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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



THE 



UNDEVELOPED WEST; 



OR, 



FIVE YEARS li THE TERRITORIES: 



B E IlsT G- 

A COMPLETE HISTOKY OF THAT VAST REGION BE- 
TWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE PACIFIC, 
ITS EESOURCES, CLIMATE, INHABITANTS, 
NATURAL CURIOSITIES, ETC., ETC. 



LIFE AND ADVENTURE ON 

PRAIRIES, MOUNTAINS/AND THE PACIFIC COAST, 



■WITH TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY rLLITSTRATIONS, FROM ORIGINAL 
SKETCHES AND PHOTOGRAPHIC VIEWS OF THE SCENERY, 
CITIES, LANDS, MINES, PEOPLE, AND CURI- 
OSITIES OF THE GREAT WEST. 

J 
BY J. H. BEADLE, 

WESTERN CORRESPONDENT OF THE CINCINNATI COMMERCIAL, AND AUTHOR 
OF "LIFE IN UTAH," ETC., ETC. 



Issued by siibscriptfon only, and not for sale in thf book stores. Residents of any State desiring 
a copy should address the Publishers, and an Agent will call upon them. See page 825. 



NATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, 

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. ; CHICAGO, III. ; CINCINNATI, OhioT' 
ST. LOUIS, Mo. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1873, by 

J. R. JONES, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congres?, at Washington, D. C. 



PREFACE. 



Another book on the West ! Yes, and why not ? 
The West is the future home of millions now living 
in the East, and there is more that ought to be known 
of its wonders and capabilities than is likely to be 
published by the few who have devoted tliemselves 
to the work. There ought to be a new book on the 
West, by some careful observer and thorough explorer, 
at least once a year ; for so many and so various are 
the changes, so important the new discoveries, that a 
volume is but thoroughly read before the facts it nar- 
rates are old. 

The undeveloped portions of the West make up an 
immense area, and no one can flatter himself that he 
has thoroughly explored it. The most that can be ex- 
pected is, that each traveler shall seize upon the salient 
features of certain sections and portray them to the 
popular mind. No man can hope in the short space 
of five years to see all of the undeveloped West.. 
Arizona alone deserves years of careful study, and New 
Mexico is still almost an unknown region to Americans, 
containing material for a vast deal of investigation. 

This work is simjDly a personal record of my five years' 

15 



16 



PREFACE. 



travel and residence in the new States and Territories 
— where I went, what I did, what I saw and what 
I thought about it. Two points, however, of prac- 
tical interest I have kept steadily in view : to give care- 
fully arranged facts in regard to the lands still open 
to settlement; and to correct a number of popular 
errors in regard to soil and climate. The chapters 
treating specifically on lands in Kansas, Nebraska, 
Iowa, Minnesota, Dakota, California, Oregon and Texas, 
it is hoped, will aid in the first object; in regard to 
the second object, I have pointed out most of the pre- 
vailing errors — to call them by no harsher name — found 
in numerous land circulars and railroad reports, and 
refuted them by a general statement of facts. 

It was my prime object to make this work a startling 
novelty in one respect : by telling the exact truth about 
the particular points to which settlers are most urgently 
invited. If my views and conclusions on the Northern 
Pacific Railroad lands, and some other sections, differ 
very greatly from the reports of officials and their 
guests heretofore published, the reader must judge 
whether the difference is my misfortune or their fault. 
Having stated the objects of the work, the difficulties 
in the way of its execution, and the points where most 
criticism may be expected, I submit it to the public 
without further apology. J. H. B. 

EvANSViLLE, Indiana, 
Ma?/ 15, 1873. 



5 




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



1. General View of the Yosemite Valley Frontispiece. 

2. The Great Canon and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone page 3 

3. Rock Pinnacles above Tower Falls, Yellowstone River 5 

4. In Camp with the Outlaw Navajoes 17 

5. Lake — and Mt. Tamalpais in the Distance 23 

6. Mormon Tabernacle — Endowment House in the Distance 27 

7. A Basin on the Columbia River — and Mountain Peak in the Distance. 29 

8. Down the Canon 31 

9. "Go West, Young Man; Go West!" 34 

10. Autograph Letter 36 

11. Afoot through Iowa 39 

12. Outlet of " Wall Lake." 44 

13. Doubling Teams in " Hell Slough." 47 

14. Crossing the Plains 54 

15. Stage Crossing the Desert , 56 

16. Needs a Haversack 57 

17. "Wanted: Light and Genteel Employment." 64 

18. Omaha City 66 

19. Scene Near Fontanelle 68 

20. Scene Near Papillion, Nebraska 76 

21. River-Depot, Union Pacific R. R., Omaha 80 

22. " Dog-Town "—Union Pacific R. R 83 

23. Indians Attacking U. S. Mail Coach 84 

24. Pastimes of the Noble Red Man 86 

25. In the Hands of the Vigilantes 89' 

26. In the "Big Tent," Benton, Wyoming Territory 91 

27. The Author as a " Mulewhacker." > 97 

28. Night-School of Theology 101 

29. Scene in Echo Canon 105 

30. " Rather Open at the Sides." 107 

31. Salt Lake City (From the North) 109 

32. Orson Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles 110 

33. George A.Smith Ill 

34. Brigham Young 118 

2 17 



18 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIOXS. 

35. First Settler at Corinne page 120 

oG. " Sunday-Night Amusements." 121 

37. For the Benefit of Corinne 123 

38. "Opening a Farm "— Hatte Talley 129 

39. Cheyennes Eeconnoitering tlie First Train 133 

40. Chief Justice of Wyoming 135 

41. Pyramid Rocks 137 

42. Pulpit Rock, Echo Canon 139 

43. Off for the Sevier Mines 143 

44. On a Family Ticket 145 

45. "You Go Hunt 'Em!" 147 

46. Lake Tahoe 155 

47. Humboldt Palisades 159 

4S. On the Truckee— C. P. R. R 161 

49. Placer Mining 162 

50. Cape Horn— C. P. R. R 163 

51. Central Pacific Railroad in the Sierra Nevadas 164 

52. Interior of Palace-Car on Central Pacific 166 

53. Sacramento 168 

54. Shoshonee Falls — Idaho 170 

55. Geysers, Pluton River, California 172 

56. "No Sahvey." 173 

57. In the Josh House 179 

58. AhChing's Theology 181 

59. Entrance to the Quicksilver Mine of New Almaden, California 182 

60. The Author receives Mormon Hospitality 185 

61. Orson Hyde, President of the Twelve Apostles 187 

62. Domesticated Piute 188 

63. Bear River Valley — North of Corinne 189 

64. " The Senator is Engaged, Sah." 192 

65. Brigham Young's Residences, Salt Lake City 195 

Q6. First Hotel in Lawrence 200 

67. "Don't Mention it, Deacon." 205 

68. On Rock Creek— Allen Co., Kansas 208 

69. Mounds on the Verdigris 212 

70. Spouting Geyser 215 

71. The Emigrant's Dream of Kansas 217 

72. Kioways Killing Buffalo 219 

73. Buffalo Hunters in Camp 221 

74. Ca.stle Garden— the Emigrant's First View of America 232 

75. A Bad Case of Trichina 2.34 

76. Woman's Rights in Dakota 240 

77. Any Port in a Storm 241 

78. Approach to Black Hills— Dakota 242 

79. Winter Camp of the Friendly Dakotahs 244 

80. Surveyor's Camp— Central Dakota '240 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 19 

81. Outline of Yoscmite page 252 

82. A Monster 25.3 

83. Hydraulic Mining 254 

84. The Two Guardsmen 255 

85. A Cotillon Party Dancing on the Mammoth Tree 256 

86. Auger-Holes through the Big Tree (Showing how it was Felled) 258 

87. The Fallen Monarch 259 

88. The Pioneer's Cabin : " Eoom for Twelve Inside " 260 

89. Something of a Stump 261 

90. First Log Hut in Mariposa Grove 262 

, 91. Bridal Veil Fall •••• 264 

92. Cathedral Rocks 268 

93. A Native of the Valley 270 

94. El Capitan, 3300 Feet High 271 

95. Sentinel Rock • 275 

96. The Yosemite Falls 276 

97. North Dome and Royal Arches 278 

98. South or Half Dome 279 

99. Mirror Lake; Watkins' and Clouds' Rest 281 

100. Vernal Falls ; 350 Feet High •'• 283 

101. Nevada Falls ; 700 Feet High 285 

102. Down by Venial Falls , 286 

103. Liberty Cap (Mt. Broderick) 288 

104. Bird's-Eye View of San Francisco 291 

105. TheMinerwho "Struck it Rich." 294 

106. " '49-Ers in Luck." 296 

107. A Sunday Festival of the Foreign Classes., 299 

108. Sunday Evening on Dupont Street 301 

109. Underground in the Barbaiy Coast 303 

110. At the Bella Union 305 

111. The First San Francisco Destroyed • 307 

112. An Anti-Goat-Island Meeting 308 

113. The Days when California had no Families 310 

114. Woodward's Gardens — a Fashionable Resort of San Francisco 312 

115. Chinese Theatre — on .Jackson Street 315 

116. Chinese Merchant on Post Street 317 

117. Chan Laisun 320 

118. Mrs. Laisun and Daughters 3'-^ 

119. Chinese Students— now at Springfield, Mass 324 

120. A High Caste Mandarin 325 

121. At "Brown and Sloper's." 327 

122. Little Pleasantries of a Mining Camp 330 

123. Prospecting Party — in Utah 332 

124. Over to Big Cottonwood 337 

125. In the West .Jordan Mine 34:! 

126. On Lion Hill— Ophir District 34 J 



20 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

127. Vertical Section of a Quartz Mine page 347 

128. One Language — two "Smiles." 350 

129. My Cherokee Friends 356 

130. " Moss Agates." 365 

131. Amusements at Muscogee 370 

132. Raising a Native 373 

133. At the Creek Agency 375 

134. A Creek Charon 379 

135. At the Mission 382 

136. " Shorthandlo." 385 

137. Curing Snake-Bite 389 

138. Ok-ta-ha-sars-ha-go 391 

139. "On a Permit." 394 

140. Pre-emptor's Cabin 395 

141. Lively Times on the Canadian 398 

142. At Tandy Walker's 400 

143. Forest Scene 405 

144. At Widow Skrimshee's 407 

145. Fight at Going Snake Court House 410 

146 Gen. Marion in the Cherokee Country 413 

147. The LastCrj- of the Cherokee 416 

148. Cherokee Legislature 422 

149. An Osage Chief 425 

150. "Man for Breakfast." 435 

151. In the Buffalo Country 437 

152. Denver 439 

153. Gray's Peak — Colorado ••• 440 

154. Georgetown — Colorado 442 

155. Fii"st Lesson in Spanish 445 

156. "Caraja! Los Nervios!" 450 

157. East Side of Plaza— Santa Fe 452 

158. At the Baile 456 

159. Pueblo at Prayer 468 

160. A Mexican Dray 474 

161. "Caramba! Va Maladitto." 476 

162. Southwest from Santa Fe 481 

163. Pueblo Cacique 483 

164. " My Relations, Sir." 485 

165. Algodonas 487 

166. Albuquerque Cathedral 489 

167. " About so High." 492 

168. Mexican Farm House 497 

169. Pueblo Maiden 501 

170. Agua Azul and Red Butte 509 

171. Officer's Quarters— Fort Wingate 512 

172. Distant View of Zuni 514 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 21 

173. Upper Story of Zuni page 516 

174. Navajo Loom 518 

175. Navajo Boy 525 

176. Navajo Matron 531 

177. Navajo "Gristmill." 533 

178. Navajo Belle 534 

179. Arizona Landscape 537 

180. Through the Navajo Forest 548 

181. Wind Carvings 550 

182. Leaning Tower 551 

183. "Ah-Yee! Melicano, Ettah Hoganday ! " 554 

184. Entering the Desert 562 

185. "Yah! Melicano, Malo, Malo ! " 564 

186. " The Shadow of a Great Rock in a Weary Land." 567 

187. Sheep-Pens at Moqui 569 

188. Entering Moqui — " Jokow, Jokow, Melicano, Jokow!" 572 

189. Northwest Front of Moqui 575 

190. Distant Yiew of Oraybe 577 

191. Group of Moquis 580 

192. Street in the " Dead Town." 583 

193. Tuba and Telashnimki 584 

194. One of Six Bronze Plates dug up near Kinderhook, 111., in 1843 598 

195. " Break in the Formation." 604 

196. A Friendly Apache 607 

197. Skull of Mangus Colorado, or " Ked Sleeve." — a "Good Indian." 608 

198. Formation on the Streams 610 

199. Scene on the Colorado 612 

200. Peak of Conglomerate 616 

201. Espanol 621 

202. "Todos Muertos, Pero mas Apaches." 631 

203. Getting Down to the Colorado 632 

204. Mountain Meadow Massacre — 132 Emigrant's killed by Mormons, etc.. 647 

205. At Jacob's Pool 655 

206. " Happy Family "— Utes 657 

207. Kanarra — Southern Utah.... 660 

208. Salt Lake Theatre 668 

209. Lower Falls of the Yellowstone, Wyoming, (350 Feet in Hight.) 670 

210. On Guard 673 

211. Tower Fall?— -Wyoming 676 

212. Bird's-Eye Yiew of the Geyser Basin 679 

213. Upper Falls of the Yellowstone 680 

214. Yellowstone Lake 681 

215. The Giantess— Yellowstone 688 

216. The Old Way Across the Plains 692 

217. Monument Rock — Echo Canon 693 

218. Mormon Temple at Nauvoo, Illinois 696 



22 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

219. Nauvoo Militia and " General" Joseph Smith page 697 

220. Trappers in Northern Dakota 699 

221. People of Pembina, and their Ox-Carts 700 

222. Old Fort Benton— Montana 702 

223. The Author, being in Feeble Health, Goes to Minnesota 707 

224. The Author, being Feeble in Pocket, Keturns from Minnesota 708 

225. Scene on a Minnesota Lake 712 

226. St. Paul 715 

227. Falls of St. Anthony 717 

228. Missionary among the Minnesota Indians 723 

229. N. P. E. R. Bridge over Mississippi, near Brainerd, Minn 728 

230. Dalles of the St. Louis 733 

231. Duluth 735 

232. In the Tunnel— Sierra Nevada 742 

233. Donner Lake — Sierra Nevada 743 

234. Snow Sheds on the Central Pacific 744 

235. Acorn Caches of the California Indians 748 

236. "Venus and Adonis" — Digger Indians 752 

237. Rough on the Old Man 755 

238. Falls of the Willamette 760 

239. Portland— Oregon— From East Side of Willamette 764 

240. Street in Olympia — Washington Territory 766 

241. Puget Sound and Mt. Rainier 768 

242. "A Little Qualmish." 774 

243. Point Arena Lighthouse — Coast of California 776 

244. Bancroft's great Publishing House — San Francisco 777 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

I MARE A START. 

Why I went West — Poor health — " Infallible cures " — Impecuniosity — Try 
the newsjiapers — Doubtful prospects — Leave Evansville — Stop in Wis- 
consin — The Mound Region — Boscobel — Into Iowa — Swedes and Nor- 
wegians — Westward afoot — A model farmer — Wire-fence — Planting 
timber — Resources of Iowa — Iowa Falls — " Wall-Lake " — Fanciful theo- 
ries — Scientific fact — Fort Dodge — Grasshoppers — A pleasant excursion — 
" Purgatory " and " Hell " Sloughs — " Bad for women and oxen " — Twin 
Lakes — Ida City — Over the " Divide "— Denison — Down the C. & N. W. 
R. R.^Council Bluffs and Omaha — On the border at last 33 

CHAPTER II. 

A COMMON MISTAKE. 

Our land of promise — Pleasing errors — Painful but wholesome truths — 
" The Great American Desert " not & myth— Causes of sterility — Drought 
— Elevation and cold — Alkali — Minerals — Bitter Creek — "Journey of 
Death" — Travel on the Deserts^Bunch grass — Grand divisions of the 
West — View of the Plains — Routes across the Continent — Fi'eighting 
under difficulties — Railroad and emigration circulars — Caveat emptor: 
"Let the buyer look out" 50 

CHAPTER III. 

FIVE WEEKS IN NEBRASKA. 

Omaha — Glorious anticipitations — Prosaic facts — A bit of history — Florence 
— An invasion of place hunters — Disappointment — On the road to Fon- 
tanelle — Elkhorn Valley — Lost on the prairie — "Any port in a storm" — 
Down to the Platte— Fremont— Down Platte Valley— Intense heat— Want 

23 



24 CONTENTS. 

of domestic economy — Romantic hash — Victuals and poetry — Bovine 
apotheosis — Farming in Nebraska — Room for three hundred thousand 
farmers — Climate — Society — " Professional starvation " — Through Sarpy 
County — Youthful connubiality— Artificial groves — Increase of rain-fall — 
Omaha politics — " Bilks " — " Hunting for work, — hoping to not find it "... 63 



CHAPTER IV. 

OX THE UNION PACIFIC. 

Up the Platte Valley — Bcautj^ by moonlight ; barrenness by day — Getting 
on to the desert — North Platte — "The gentle gazelle" — "Dog-town" — 
Not dogs, but rodents — " Indians ahead " — The dangerous district — Cross- 
ing the Plains in 1866 — " The noble Red Man " — Cheyenne— Vigorous 
reduction of the population — Black Hill — Sherman — Down to Laramie — 
The Alkali Desert — Benton — A beautiful summer resort ! — Manners and 
morals (?) — Bravery of the impecunious — Murder and mob — Vigilantes — 
Murderer rescued by the military and escapes — Amusements — " Big Tent " 
— " Now, then, gentlemen, tlie ace is your winning card" — "Cappers" 
and Victims — No fairness in gambling 79 

CHAPTER V. 

ON A MULE. 

A new profession — Off for Salt Lake City — A Mormon outfit — Nature of the 
overland freight — Its extent — Great expenses and enormous profits — 
Luxury of miners and mountaineers — Changed to the railroad — " Kiting 
towns" — Jonah's gourd — Benton a year afterwards — Platte City — Our 
company — Mulewhacker's Theologj' — Pleasant gossip on polygamy — 
Journal of the route — Horrors of Bitter Creek — Heat, cold, thirst, dust, 
fatigue— Green River— Bridger Plains — Echo Canon — Weber Canon — 
Parley's Park — Down Parley's Caiion — Salt Lake Valley and City 96 

CHAPTER VI. 

A YEAR IN UTAH. 

Discharging freight — " Beautiful Zion " — First impressions—" Our Bishop " 
— Arguments (?) for polygamy — Rough on Rome — Mormon Worthies — 
Jews, Gentiles, and Apostates — Queer condition of American citizens — 
" Millennial Star" and " Book of ^lormon" — The original carpet-baggers 
— " Jaredites " — Mormon sermons — Into the country — A polemic race — 
Mormon conference — " No trade with Gentiles " — A hard winter — I be- 
come a Gentile editor — Founding of Corinne — Glowing anticipations — 
" The Chicago of the Rocky Mountains " — Ups and downs of real estate — 
The Author comes to grief. 108 



CONTENTS. 25 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE UNION PACIFIC COMPLETED. 

The last rail arid spike — A visit home — An unofficial tour — Whitney, Ben- 
ton, Burton, Fremont, Stansbury, Saxton, and Gunnison — Difficulties of 
constructure — Where is the real starting point ? — Missouri River Bridge 
— Out the Platte — Fremont — Columbus — On the plains again — Jules- 
burg — Smoothness of the route — Delightful traveling — Cheyenne — A 
Western JetTreys! — Laramie again — A tragedy — A miracle, perhaps! — 
" Big Ed's" guardian angel — Pyramid rocks — Beauties of Laramie Plains 
— Desert west of them — Wasatch — Echo and Weber — Promontory — Moral 
gamblers — Reflections 126 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE GREAT BASIN. 

Hunting new fields — Gentile needs — Mines or nothing — Southward — 
Sevier Mines — Gilmer and Saulsbury — Rockwell's Ranche— The Utah 
Basin — Will it be sacred ground?— A family ticket — Social robbery — 
Chicken Creek — " Them mules is in the sagebrush ; you go hunt 'em ! " — 
Gunnison — Sevier Valley — Abandoned towns — Marysvale — Up the Gulch 
— Drawbacks to the district — Mr. Jacob Hess^My later experience — The 
habitable lands of Utah and Nevada — Productions— Fruits — True policy 
with the State and Territory — " Mormon enterprise " — A silver State — 
Sunken deserts — Death Valley — Mournful reminiscence 142 

CHAPTER IX. 

THROUGH NEVADA. 

Out of a place — A wanderer again — Tired of Utah — Westward — Promontory 
— Salty district — Queer calculations — Down the Humboldt — Elko — White 
Pine — "John Chinamen" — Humboldt Canon — Desert — Reese River — 
" Sinks " — Morning at Truckee — Beauty of the Sierras — Eureka !— Don- 
ner and Bigler Lakes — Western Slope — " Forty miles of snow sheds " — 
Mining towns-^Cape Horn — Sublime scenery — Scientific engineering — 
Swiftly downward— Scenery of the Pacific slojie — Out upon the jilain — 
The California autumn — Suburbs of Sacramento 153 

CHAPTER X. 

AFOOT IN CALIFORNIA. 

New Spain — Poetry and fact — Saxon and Spaniard — Cavalier and Pioneer — 
Our Heroic Age — The American Iliad — Sacramento — Yolo county — 
" Tales " — Chinese — California Central R. R. — Ague — Hijj;h and Low 



26 CONTENTS. 

Water-marks — Chinese and Chinese labor — Acclimating sickness — Davis- 
ville — Sericulture — Warner's Vineyartl — The land of grapes — Pears, 
ajiples, and figs — Up Putah Creek — Drouth and dust— The rainy season 
at hand — Fruit farms near the coast range — Baiw/ies only, not homes — 
Popular reasons therefor — Agricultural items — Shall we settle in rural 
California — Chinese " Devil-drive " — Mongolian Theology — " Josh " — 
Blowing up the Devil — Ah Ching's ojiinion — " China like Melica man ! " 
—Off for " Frisco " 1G7 



CHAPTER XI. 

UTAH AGAIN. 

Elected defendant— Utah law — Polygamous judges— Trial at Brigham City 
— Assault on the author — Skilful surgery — Rapid recovery — " Write a 
history of the Mormons ! " — Visit the East — Return to Utah — Political — 
Bear River canal scheme — Author goes to AVashington — Miseries of a 
lobbyist — Election of 1870— Gen. Geo. R. Maxw-ell — Debate on polygamy 
— C'lci bono? — Mormon morals and Gentile associations 183 

CHAPTER XII. 

I START AGAIN. 

Another misfortune and change of scene — Kansas City — Lawrence — Early 
tragedies — Later horrors — Last great success— Southward — Ottawa — 
" Don't mention it, Deacon " — Franklin County — Anderson — Ozark 
Ridge — Allen County — lola — Western enterprise — Montgomery County — 
Beautiful Mounds — Cherry vale — Northward — A modern Methuselah — 
Troy — Ready to report 197 

CHAPTER XIII. 

STATISTICAL KANSAS. 

Emigrants, attention ! — Topography of Kansas — Climate — Three divisions — 
Amount of good land — Productiveness — Figures — Fruit — Beautiful Homes 
— Southern border— Snakes — Local flavoring — Bad case of Trichina— The 
Kansas farmer 216 



CHAPTER XIV. 
A FLYING TRIP. 

Down to St. .Joseph — Up the Missouri Valley — Omaha again — Dull times 
on the Missouri — Reasons given — Off for Sioux City— Up-country people 
—Yankton— Caught in a storm— Dakota— Black Hills— Gold ! perhaps— 
Sioux— Iape Oahye — Called westward — Union Pacific — Mormondom 
again — Over to " Frisco" 235 



CONTENTS. 27 

CHAPTER XV. 

WONDERS OF THE SIERRAS. 

Off for Calaveras— The route — Copperopolis — Up the Sierras— First view of 
tlie Grove — Particular trees — Emotions excited — Route thence to Yosemite 
— Table Mountain — Bret Harte — Terrible descent — Into the Valley — A 
■world of wonders — Fatigue and reflection — Descrijjtion imijossible 251 

CHAPTER XVI. 

SKETCHES IN SAN FRANCISCO. 

Return from Yosemite — Summary of trip— Does it pay? — Climate of San 
Francisco — Of the State — ^^^ariety in " Frisco " — The Barbary Coast 
— Chinese Theatre — The Cliff House and Seal Rocks— Literature of the 
Pacific— Joaquin Miller — Frances Rose Mackinley — Morals and manners 
— Excitement and wearing out — An inventive Race — The Chinese again... 290 

CHAPTER XVII. 
" JOHN." 

Popular nonsense about the Chinese — The bugbear Chinaman — The roman- 
tic Chinaman — The real article — His history, art, music and drama — 
Objections to them considered — Do they cheapen labor ? — Will they over- 
run the country ? — Do they degrade labor ? — Their condition — Missionary 
work — Sacramento system — Rev. O. Gibson — Better siiecimens— Yellow 
Chinese — Mrs. Laisun and daughters — Chinese students — Hope for the 
race 313 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

MINES AND MINING. 

A prospect — Outline of mining region — The Cottonwoods — How I came 
there — Mormon anti-mining sermons — The dry summer — Unhealthfulness 
of Salt Lake Citj^ — I goto the mountains — "Prospectors" — We hunt a 
mine — Mode of silver mining — Different in gold mining — One chance in 
twenty-five thousand for an " Emma " or " Comstock " — " Struck a horse " 
— Over to Big Cottonwood — Fire in the mountains — Promise of war in 
Utah— False alarm— Off for Bingham— Chicago fire— Thence to East 
Carion — I invest — And come out minus 326 



28 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

A CHANGE OF BASE. 

A hard winter — The last rain — Eastward — A merry party — The great Block- 
ade — On the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad — Southwestern Missouri — 
Among the Cherokees — Spring roads — Up into Kansas — Meet C. G. Du 
Bruler, Esq., and return — Down to Muscogee 3.48 

CHAPTER XX. 

MUSCOKEE. 

Desperadoes — Laxity of Government — Out to the Agency — Stirring up a 
rattler — "A free nigger settlement " — Creek History — Tallahassee ilission 
• — Delightful exiieriences — Creek education — System of government — Back 
to Muscogee — Eeckless shooting — State of the region 369 

CHAPTER XXI. 

OKLAHOMA. 

Railroads — The Thirty-fifth parallel route — Down to the Canadian — In the 
Choctaw Nation — Tandy Walker, Esq. — Secretary Delano visits the Terri- 
tory — Tramp to Fort Gibson — " White Cherokees " again — An Indian 
feud — At Widow Skrimshee's — " Pikes," on the animal migration — Tahle- 
quah — Cherokee documents — Curious records — History of the Nation — 
Summary of the Indian Territory 396 

CHAPTER XXII. 

AROUND AND ABOUT TO SANTA FE. 

No thoroughfare from Indian Territory — Northward through Kansas — On 
the Plains at Last — The Ride over the Kansas Pacific — Ellsworth, and its 
Former Felicities — In the Buifalo Countiy — The " Big Pasture" of Amer- 
ica — Arrival at Denver — "Them's my Sentiments" — The Country from 
Denver to Santa Fe — A case of Delirium Tremens 431 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

SANTA FE DE SAN FRANCISCO. 

First impressions — Location of the city — U. S. oflScials — Learning Spanish — 
The Baile — Valse da Spachio — Mexican Law— Religion — Children— 



CONTENTS. 29 

■park vs. -white races — Mexican transportation — Historical — Remarkable 
journey of De Vaca and his companions — Expedition of Coronado — " The 
seven cities of Cibola!" — "The American occupation" — Query 451 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

" GREASERDOM." 

Off from Santa Fe— La Bajada— Rio Grande Valley— The Pueblo de San 
Domingo — Mexican farms — Albuquerque — Crossing the Rio Grande— 
On the Desert — Rio Puerco — El Rito — "Town of the Lake" — Cubero 
— McCarty's Ranche — Murder by the Navajoes — Agua Azul — The extinct 
volcano — Summit of the Sierra Madre — At Wingate — My soldier comes to 
grief. ' 479 

CHAPTER XXV. 
AMONG THE NAVAJOES. 

At Fort Wingate — Natural beauty — Wealth of nature — A region of curiosi- 
ties — The Zunis — Their wonderful civilization — Caiion de Chaco — San 
Juan ruins — On to Defiance — Navajo history — Their semi-civilization — 
Their wars with the Spaniards — American relations — Major Brooks' negro 
— Navajo War — Subjugation and decline — Their return and progress — 
End of stay at Defiance — Sounds of wrath from Santa Fe — Apology — An 
original "pome" 511 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

A RIDE THROUGH WONDERLAND. 

Diamonds! perhaps— Curious stones in the Navajo country — Ready — Kind- 
ness of Agent Keams — Navajo Forest— Entering De Chelley— Tlie " CliiF 
Cities" — An evening of beauty — Out upon the Desert — Water! Water! — 
Sickness and exhaustion — Navajo doctoring — Climbing for water — Down 
again, and night-ride— Camp at last— " Hah-koh Melicano ! "—Reach 
Moqui — Curious people— Chino and ilisiamtenah — " Moquis steal 
nothing" 541 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE LAST OF THE AZTECS. 

Theory and fact — What I know about the Moquis— Location— Numbers 
—Dwellings— Dress— A dinner of State— Dog-meat and a Catholic 
Ktomach— Strange dialogue on religion — Tuba and Telashnimki — Oravbe 



30 CONTENTS. 

Radicals — Further enquiries — Division of the subjects — Mounds in Ohio 
— In Mississippi Valley — Mexico — Central America — Peru — Theories — 
Jews, Chinese, Malays, Phoenicians, Romans, or Atlanteans — Modest con- 
clusion 574 



CHAPTER XXVIll. 

ARIZONA. 

A big country — A strange parallelogram— A region of mountain, canon and 
plateau — Antiquities — Wild Indians — MaricojDas and other village Indi- 
ans — We leave Jloqui — Nature of the country — Camp of the " Outlaw 
Navajoes " — Romantic narrations— Navajo beauty — Their theology — 
Fish, turkeys, and human beings— AVho are they ?— Their treatment of 
women 603 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

DOWN TO THE COLORADO. 

Diversion from intended route — Summary of the Thirty-fifth parallel route 
— Leave the outlaw Navajoes — Addition to our party — Our interpreter — 
Lost on the desert — An aboriginal joke — A wonderful grazing ground — 
Battle-field of Apaches and Navajoes — Comparison of skulls — Reach the 
Colorado Caiion — Sublime sight — A fearful descent — Nine hours going 
down hill — No passage — Find one of Major Powell's boats — Dexterity of 
the Indians — I risk the passage — "Major Doyle" — Indian romance — 
Castilian and Navajo tongues — Good-bye to my dark friends — Safely over 
at last G24 

CHAPTER XXX. 

FIVE HUNDRED MILES OF MORMONS. 

An astonishing revelation—" Major Doyle" becomes John D. Lee, of Moun- 
tain Meadow notoriety — He relates his version of that affair — Comments — 
Why verdict " Guilty " — Off for the .settlements— Jacob's Pool — Long, 
dry ride— The Pi-Utes— Into Kanab— Jacob Hamlin -Major Powell's 
party— Pipe Springs— Gould's Ranche— Virgen City— Toquerville— 
Kanawa — Into the Greai Basin — Beaver — The "Jerky"— An old com- 
rade — Fillmore — " Cutting off" — Staging — An unconscious joke — Arrival 
at Salt Lake City — Surprise of my friends 645 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

MY SUMMER VACATION. 

Diamonds by the bushel ! — My conclusion — The sad fact — Off for Soda 
Springs — Cache Valley — Gen. Connor and the Battle of Bear River — 



CONTENTS. 31 

Soda Mounds— Health-restoring waters— "Anti-polygamy " Spring- 
Wonders of the Yellowstone— Report of Hon. U. P. Langford— Return to 
Salt Like City— Politics and Religion— Popular absurdities about Utah— 
A blast at Brigham and his allies 669 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

SHORT NOTES ON A LONG EXCURSION. 

Another ride on the Union Pacific — Down to St. Louis — Up to Nauvoo — 
Historic interest — A strange old place — German vintners — Beauty of 
the site — Through Iowa— Southern Dakota— Yankton politicians— Terri- 
torial Oflacials— " The Government cannot afford good men "—Down 
the Missouri — An uncertain channel— On the Sioux City and St. Paul 
Road 691 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

MINNESOTA. 

My stepmother— An impecunious youth— Trials of poverty — I drive for 
excursion parties — Not a .success— My Canadian friends — Return home — 
Mankato — Crystal Lake — Garden City— The cabin of my friends — My 
old employer — Down to St. Paul — Tlie State Fair— Northwar.d by rail 
—Lumbermen — Big Lake — St. Cloud — Sauk Rapids — Great water-power 
— Northward stage — The Lady Superior — Belle Prairie— Converting Indi- 
ans — We reach Brainerd 706 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

ON THE NORTHERN PACIFIC. 

Brainerd— The Pine forests of Minnesota— Sioux and Chippewas— Pahya 
Goonsey— Detroit Lakes— Down to Red River— iloorehead— Out to 
Jimtown— Red River Valley— " The equinoctial storm"— Eastward again 
—Russian Quakers— Scandinavian settlers— Scenery on the St. Louis — 
Duluth— Emigration Comiianies— " Post Off"— Humbug of land cir- 
culars—Climate on the Northern Pacific— "Be not deceived "—The 
testimony experience of A. Toponce, Esq. — Comments 724 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

THE WAY TO OREGON. 

Westward again— Iowa— Union Pacific— Utah— Central Pacific— Sacra- 
mento— California and Oregon Railroad— Chico— General Bidwell's 



32 co^■TE^•TS. 

Handle— Semi-Tropical Fruits and Flowers— Reading— Shasta— Joaquin 
Miller— Shasta Indians—" Venus and Adonis " — Staging on the Sierras 
— Mount Shasta— Yreka— Frontier justice— Immense I'orests— Oregon- 
Rogue River — Umpqua — Willamette — Portland 74j 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

IN CONCLUSION. 

Season too late — Washington Territory — " Good-bye, Jonah " — Down the 
Willamette — In the Columbia — A fog — Salmon fisheries — Strange instincts 
of the salmon — On the heaving ocean — " The first to fall " — Down below 
— " Just a little qualmish " — Philosophy on the subject — Smoother water 
— " On an even keel " — Arrival at Frisco — Bancroft & Co. — Homeward 
bound rG7 



A MONTH IN TEXAS. 

THE WAY TO TEXAS 7r3 

NORTHERN TEXAS 7S7 

CENTRAL TEXAS 702 

SOUTHERN TEXAS 796 

TRIP TO AUSTIN '. 801 

GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY 806 

MINERALS OF TEXAS 813 

WESTERN TEXAS 814 

HISTORICAL 816 

GENERAL VIEWS 822 




DOWN THE CAInON. 



THE 

UNDEVELOPED WEST; 

on, 

FIVE YEARS m THE TERRITORIES. 



CHAPTER I. 

I MAKE A START. 



Why I went West — Poor health — " Infallible cures " — Impecuniosity — Try the 
newspapers — Doubtful prosjiects — Leave Evansville — Stop in Wisconsin — • 
The Mound Region — Boscobel — Into Iowa — Swedes and Norwegians — West- 
ward afoot — A model farmer — Wire-fence — Planting timbci- — Resources of 
Iowa — Iowa Falls — " Wall-Lake " — Fanciful theories — Scientific fact — Fort 
Dodge — Grasshoppers — A pleasant excursion — " Purgatory " and " Hell " 
Sloughs — " Bad for women and oxen" — Twin Lakes— Ida City — Over the " Di- 
vide " — Denison — Down the C. & N. W. R. R. — Council Bluffs and Omaha — 
On the border at last. 

J II ANUARY, 1868, found me an invalid in the goodly city 
I of Evansville. A bronchical difficulty, produced ten 
_ J years before by severe application to study, had in a 
year of army life developed to a confirmed asthma; and 
now, in the moist and enervating climate of Southern 
Indiana, I was shaken by an ominous graveyard cough, the 
heaviness of a mother and the despair of friends and creditors. 
I tried fifty remedies : cubebs, troches, caramels, hoarhound con- 
fections were my hourly refreshment ; a score of nasty syrups 
in villainous green bottles adorned my mantel; pastilles smoked 
upon my stove, and my chamber was redolent with the fumes 
of burning nitre. 

My friends sympathized and suggested : one had heard his 
grandmother say she never knew a tea made of chestnut leaves 
to fail in such cases, if taken in time; another quoted an equally 
venerable source in favor of bloodroot and whiskey, with snuff 
of powdered galingale ; a third had all confidence in the regular 
3 33 



34 



POPULAR ADVICE. 



ilillB 




"go west, young max; go west !" 

school, while a military friend just from Texas contented him- 
self with the cheerful suggestion, " My boy, the angels have 
taken a fancy for you; try a southern climate." If there is 
anything worse than dying of consumption, it must be the 
reception of the advice prevalent on the subject. 

The general voice ran in favor of travel. One thought a soa- 
voyage a dead sure thing; another was enthusiastic for Florida, 
and a third was positive the Lake Region would straighten 
me out. In a multitude of counsellors, non-professional, there 
was anything but safety. My physician, watch in one hand, 
the other on my pulse, looked solemnly wise and thus pro- 
nounced : " Go west, young man ; go west." I went west. 



THE WAYS AND MEANS. 35 

There was one little difficulty in the way of all these fine 
schemes advanced for my rejuvenation : I was impecunious. 
Young lawyers are not generally troubled with filthy lucre, and 
I had been in practice but one year, and out of health most of 
the time. After selling booUs and paying debts I had remain- 
ing a hundred and fifteen dollars on which to reach the Pacific 
Coast — for there my physician thought was the Hesperian foun- 
tain which was to make me a new man. Manifestly if I ever 
reached it, economy was to be, not exactly a virtue, but some- 
thing not nearly so heroic — a necessity. Newspaper correspon- 
dence suggested itself to my mind as a last resort. What 
wandering scholar, poor teacher, or feeble professional has not 
thought of it as the Avay to health-restoring travel, or the 
glories of a foreign tour? 

I wrote a carefully worded proposition to six leading journals. 
Two replied. The Head Quill of the IncHanapolis Journal 
briefly declined, adding, somewhat superfluously, that there were 
at least a dozen applicants to each vacancy, and Western corre- 
spondence was just now of no particular value. Murat Hal- 
stead, Esq., of the Cincinnati Commercial, (May his shadow 
never grow less!) answered thus, literatim et pnnctiiatim: {Fac 
simile on next page.) I trust the reader may decipher these 
hieroglyphics whh more ease and less of doubt and trepidation 
than I did. Through their jagged lines gleamed a ray of hope; 
and on this hint I wrote. I also made arrangements with the 
Evansville Journal, to practise a few Aveeks through their 
columns until I became more proficient with the pen, thinking 
that it was best ray first eifusions should be read only by friends 
and acquaintances — a common error with beginners. For criti- 
cism, to be of any value, must come from strangers. One's 
friends will always praise his writings, though never so flat; 
and one's enemies say something spiteful though he "speak with 
the tongue of men and angels. 

My plan was to Avork through to California during the good 
weather, remain there one winter, and work back home the next 
summer, after an absence of about eighteen months; and by 
no means to settle in the Far West. I came about as near to 



^;l!lili^:ll< 



OFFICE OF THE 



*f) 



FOURTH AND RACE STREETS. 







\i^L^^>^ ^«-^*v^p»tBX^^ J^^yu^j^eifJT 




-^^.^yk.£4£^ 



36 



LEAVING HOME. 37 

filling this schedule as young men generally do to working out 
their plans. It is necessary to have plans, but it is morally 
certain no man will ever realize them exactly. The precise 
thing one intends is about the only thing which never occurs, 
and of the great expectations of glowing youth we may philo- 
sophize as did the Hibernian over his dressed pig: " It didn't 
weigh half as much as I expected, an', be japers, I always 
knowed it wouldn't." 

All sad farewells over, I was oiF from Evansville on the 8th 
of May. It is seldom pleasant to start, no matter what enjoy- 
ment one looks forward to ; and the oldest travelers generally 
leave "winter quarters" with a feeling of despondency. Do 
Quincy says : "We never do a, thing consciously for the last 
time without a feeling of sadness; we never take Jinal leave of 
a place — even Avhere we have not been happy — without a sigh." 
And the experience of all Bohemians confirms this truth. Per- 
haps the inner sense sees by a divine instinct that all these 
occasional partings are but faint types of the last great parting, 
and sighs its regret by anticipation. Perhaps the soul feels in 
these minor departures that a great departure is not far distant, 
and intuitively warns man of his destiny. I had uncommon 
cause for despondency. Hitherto my journeys, though long, 
had been no farther ft-oni civilization than western Kansas and 
Minnesota; post offices, stage roads, and even railroads were 
not far distant, and though I "dragged at each remove a 
lengthening chain," it was still a chain connecting me by suc- 
cessive links with home. But now, Avith feeble health and feebler 
pocket, I was to pass beyond the border, and across the central 
wild to where civilization 

" Shifting, turns the other way." 

It is not surprising then that a suspicious moisture gathered 
in my eye, as from the rear of the train I waved my adieus to 
the receding city. 

After a week in Northern Indiana, and three days at the Na- 
tional Republican Convention in Chicago, I left that city for 
Wisconsin by the Chicago and Northwestern Railway. I had 
gained on the season ; the coolness of early spring still prevailed 



38 wiscoNSix. 

in this higher latitude, and I took a delightful rest of a week at 
Boscobel, in the valley of the lower Wiseonsin. This is the 
centre of the "Mound Region" of Wisconsin — so called from 
the many Indian mounds scattered about the valley. Some are 
circular, some oval, and one in the edge of the town is in the exact 
form of a Greek cross, the longer piece a hundred feet in length. 
None of these are more than four or five feet high, and the 
earth of wliicli they are composed is different from the adjacent 
soil. Most of the original mounds have been removed in the 
process of settlement : some contained human remains, some 
implements of war and husbandry ; but the most consisted 
entirely of earth and decayed grass or straw. Of some the 
earth was so fertile that the people of Boscobel used it for 
enriching their gardens. 

North of the river are larger and more extensive quadrangu- 
lar mounds, evidently intended as a fortification, and command- 
ing a bend in the stream. Twenty-five miles south are the 
*' Great Mounds of the Platte," two moles of earth and rock, 
about half a mile in length, rising abruptly to a height of sixty 
feet from a level plain. But these are evidently of geologic 
origin. Boscobel is far enough north to be a pleasant summer 
resort; the climate is healthful, and just north of tlie Wiscon- 
sin game of many kinds is abundant. The prairie, spangled 
with the myriad flowers of advancing spring, allured me to 
numerous excursions; the bracing air from the Minnesota hills 
brought healing to my lungs, and I soon felt the exquisite joys of 
convalescence. Tourists who cannot afford to go to the " Far 
West" may find here, and in the neighboring parts of Iowa 
and Minnesota, a pleasant and healthful summer residence. 

On the first of June I crossed the Mississippi from Prairie 
Du Chien* to McGregor, and started afoot across Northern 
Iowa, judging that the walk of three hundred miles would 
tou<'-hen me a little before encountering the real hardships of the 
plains. Of the next four days my recollections are of slow 

*" Prairie of The Dog.' — An Indian chief who dominated this region two 
centuries ago. 



THROUGH IOWA. 



39 



sauntering over a beautiful rolling country, prairie and timber 
intermingled, and rather thickly settled with a thrifty and intel- 
ligent population. 

Iowa and Minnesota were doubtless settled by the most 
generally educated class of emigrants of any part of the West; 
and I seem to be going into civilization rather than from it. 
Occasional colonies of 
Swedes and Norwegians 
are found in both States, 
and exhibit a rapid im- 
provement. Nine years 
before, during a summer 
residence in Minnesota, 
I had witnessed the colo- 
nies coming in, direct 
from Scandinavia, and 
often smiled at their 
uncouth and poverty- 
stricken appearance. 
Now they are there, as 
in Iowa, among the 
wealthiest people in the 
country; their national 
industry has raised them 
from poverty to opu- 
lence. Afterwards I saw 
people of the same races 
in Utah, by the most 
exhaustive labor a little 
better off than they had 
been at home, and heard 
them boasting what great things "the Lord and Brother Brig- 
ham had done for them." These in Iowa had no Prophet, 
and consequently made a good selection for their homes, and 
prospered without being tithed. 

At the _ end of a week I was but eighty miles from the 
river, but the general appearance of the country began to 




AFOOT THROUGH IOWA. 



40 ON THE PRAIRIE. 

change rapidly. There were immense tracts of unsettled 
prairie ; timber was found only along the streams, and I soon 
learned to dread it on account of the heat. On the "bottoms" 
of Big Wapsie Creek, in Bremer County, was dense timber for 
ten miles — the last complete forest I was to see for a year ; and 
I almost melted in passing through it. On the prairie there is 
nearly always a gentle and refreshing wind ; in the timber a 
sultry and oppressive calm. To leave the first for the second 
was like going from balmy May into sultry July. In my 
prairie travels I never saw a farmer's wife who had tried both, 
who did not prefer the prairie to the timber, despite the intense 
cold of winter. Sometimes, they admitted, when the ther- 
mometer was below zero, and the wind humming from the 
northwest at twenty miles per hour, they sighed for the leeward 
side of tall timber; but for ten months in the year, give them 
the prairie. "We can house up, you know, and keep warm on 
the prairie in winter ; but we can't house up and keep cool in 
the timber in summer." 

Westward I began to toughen to my work, and on the 8th 
and 9th of June easily made my twenty miles a day. Over- 
taken on the open prairie by a storm, late in the afternoon of 
the 9th, I traveled nine miles in the rain to the first house, 
finding the settler like myself a retired professional, "out West 
for his health." Three years before he had paid seven dollars 
an acre for a quarter section of land, put a wire fence around 
forty acres of it, broke the sod and sowed it in wheat, which 
yielded twenty-two bushels per acre, and sold at a dollar and a 
quarter per bushel. He produced his "farm-books," which 
showed that, estimating his wire-fence and breaking sod at the 
highest rate, his first crop had paid for land, fence, and break- 
ing, and a slight percentage of profit. Vacant lands in that 
and the adjoining counties were selling everywhere from three 
to fifteen dollars per acre, according to locality. 

Wire fences were the only kind in use in this vicinity. 
Many farmers used but three strands, but a " lawful fence" 
required five, which, the local courts consider, will make it 
" horse-high, bull-strong, and pig-tight." Many i)lant trees 



UNOCCUPIED LANDS. 41 

for posts, using " slip cleats," that the wires may be moved 
every year or two on the growing tree. An artificial grove is 
found on nearly every farm, mostly of the soft maple and Cot- 
tonwood ; but a few have planted harder varieties of timber. 
The State exempts from taxation all land so planted ; the trees 
grow rapidly, and in twenty years Northern Iowa will be a 
timbered country. 

Iowa has less waste land than any other State in the Union. 
The sloughs, though rated as non-cultivable land, are sus- 
ceptible of drainage; and with the exception of a little rocky 
and sandy land along the streams, every foot of the State is 
available for the support of man. 

Despite the national spirit of self-glorification, and the bril- 
liant apostrophes of " Western members," how few Americans 
realize the comparative greatness of that tier of States just west 
of the Mississippi. Minnesota has thirty thousand square miles 
of wheat-producing land ; Iowa has more arable land than Eng- 
land proper, and not quite one acre in a hundred non-productive ; 
Missouri has more iron, coal, timber and water-power than the 
Kingdom of Prussia, and Arkansas will nearly equal the King- 
dom of Italy. 

Taking St. Louis as a centre, with a radius of three hundred 
miles, and describing a semicircle on the west, from the Missis- 
sippi above to the same stream below, and the area thus bounded, 
if cultivated like rural England, would supply food for fifty 
million people. Really America is not yet "settled," except, 
perhaps, a narrow strip along the Atlantic. St. Louis, with her 
western rail connections, is the natural entrepot of a section that 
will comfortably support a population equal to that of the Rus- 
sian Empire. We are lost in a maze of conjecture when we 
attempt to figure to ourselves the future American, as he will 
be when all that region is thickly settled, dotted with towns 
and villages, with perhai)s a score of great cities. 

I journeyed on west-southwest to Iowa Falls, a city of romantic 
location, with a foundation partly of rock, at a point where the 
Iowa River leaves the "summit-divide" prairies, and plunges 
down by a series of cascades to the level of the lower valley. There 



42 AN IOWA WONDER. 

is unlimited water-power in the vicinity, and an important citj 
is springing up rapidly. It was then the terminus of the 
Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad, and indulged in bright 
dreams of future greatness. The inhabitants I found to be of 
the genus Western Yankee, willing to take a stranger in and 
do him. Accordingly I did not tarry long, and on the morn- 
ing of June 18th, took passage in a settler's wagon, to visit the 
celebrated " Wall Lake," which was reported afar off as the 
great Avonder of Iowa. 

For many years fanciful writers had given us glowing 
accounts of a wonderful lake, surrounded by a comj)act wall 
of boulders and earth, with a beautiful drive on top, along 
which the Jehus of a "departed race" exercised their elk and 
buffalo teams in driving tandem. I reached the lake at dusk, 
having walked ten miles from the main stage road. The only 
inhabitant of the township lived on the border of the lake, 
monarch of all he surveyed, and evidently willing to have 
nobody live any nearer. The land was his, and the water and 
the cattle on a thousand sloughs; but he cared nothing for the 
natural beauty at his door, had no boat on tiie lake, and only 
granted me lody-insi; because it was evident there was no other 
chance. North, west, and soutii of the lake the country is 
marsiiy for several miles, but on the east rises a beautiful 
wooded ridge, in the edge of which the settler lives. 

Only the western and southern borders of the lake have a 
regular wall; the bank on the east is bold and abrupt, and on 
the north the lake yields gradually to an extended marsh. At 
the extreme southern point, a clearly defined rocky wall breaks 
down by almost regular steps to a " wasteway," through which 
runs a considerable stream continuing eastward to the Iowa 
River. From this outlet for half a mile northwest is the only 
part of the wall which has any appearance of human handi- 
work : it is six feet high, three feet wide on top, and very com- 
pactly built of rock and earth. The outer side is quite steep, 
but within it slopes away gradually to the water's edge, for 
several rods, beautifully adorned with grass and flowers. But 
even there a careful examination shows no regular masonry ; 
all is in elemental, not mechanical order. 



ICE-BUILT WALLS. 43 

Science has clearly demonstrated that these walls are not the 
work of the Red Man, nor yet of his possible predecessor, the 
Mound Builder; they are due merely to the expansive force 
of ice. Geologists are agreed that the lakes of this region 
date back to the close of the "Glacial Epoch," remaining as 
then mere depressions in the "drift" which formed the soil. 
The "Lake Region" — whether in New York, Minnesota or 
Iowa — is always found on the "summit-level." Farther down 
there were lakes once, but the drainage from higher ground 
running down the slope has cut channels far below their old 
beds and drained them. In Southern Iowa the careful eye 
can still see traces of ancient lake shores; but away up the 
bluffs, often fifty feet above the present surface of the river. On 
the " summit level," there was no such accumulation of water on 
higher ground to force a way through the lakes and drain them, 
and they remain as at first. In this climate ice often forms on 
them many feet in thickness. In 1863 this lake froze almost 
solid, killing most of the fish. Freezing to everything with 
which it comes in contact, boulders, earth, and rushes, the ice 
continually cleans the bottom of the lake and piles the materials 
at the edge. The expansive force of miles of miles of ice is 
exerted upon the rocks in a direction from the centre towards 
the shore ; and so powerfully that on the eastern side, where 
the bank is abrupt, the flat stones are in many places driven 
in upon the boulders with such an im[)etus as to splinter the 
former like glass. Eacli year this process is repeated, the lake 
rising to the height of the wall formed the previous year, and 
adding new materials thereto ; and this process continues till 
the loose material is exhausted, or the lake waters force an out- 
let, as this has done at the south end. 

That this theory is correct, is clearly proved by the existence 
of fifteen other lakes in this and afljoining counties with a 
similar formation, of which Lake Gertrude, Lake Cornelia, 
Twin Lake, and I>ittle Wall Lake have even more perfect 
walls than this. In some, the water has gradually cut down 
the outlet, and drained the lake until a new wall has begun to 
form inside the old ones. Swans and wild geese abound on all 



44 



EAGLE CEEEK. 










" -\*"'^t 







OUTLET OF "wall LAKE." 



the lakes. The entire region is well worthy of a visit by tour- 
ists or artists, and surely uo reflecting mind will feel less inter- 
est in the " Wall Lake" from knowing that it is not the work 
of a "departed race," but a natural result of forces which have 
been in oi)eration since the hour when "The morning stars sang 
together." 

After a day at "Wall Lake" I turned westward, traversing 
an unbroken prairie for fourteen miles to Eagle Creek. There 
I found six families scattered along the stream for two miles; 
for in all this part of Iowa the only settlers M'ere found near 
the streams or lakes where there was timber. Everybody was 



GRASSHOPPERS. 45 

on the qui vive about the grasshoppers, which were reported to 
be coming from the west. Next day, in the twenty-five miles 
to Fort Dodge, I passed through three swarms of them, each 
about half a mile wide. Where I stopped for dinner the farmer sat 
the picture of dejection, while his wife and daughter were weep- 
ing and wringing their hands. Their farm lay directly in the 
path of the destroyers, and going with them to the field of 
wheat, now turning yellow for the harvest, I saw the insects 
pouring into it from the north by millions, with an ominous 
roar. Before them were green prairies and yellow fields of 
grain; behind them blackness, desolation and death. At Fort 
Dodge, and for a day's travel west of there, I saw them in new 
swarms, now grown larger and flying high in the air, glistening 
in the sun like bits of white and yellow paper. Thence I saw 
them no more, and afterwards learned that their " visitation" 
was but partial, destroying about half the crop in three counties. 

Whence come they ? Where do they breed ? Whither do 
they go? Nobody knows certainly. In Iowa and Minnesota 
they are generally supposed to originate in the wastes of North- 
ern Dakota, but the only reason I know of for this opinion is 
that they come generally from the northwest. In the last 
named State they came in August and September in 1856, 
and destroyed about half the crop; the next year, as soon as 
the weather grew w'arm, they seemed to spring suddenly 
from the ground in myriads, and chew away on the first 
thing they reached. Not a spear of grass or wheat, or a blade 
of corn escaped; and when I was there, in 1859, Minnesota 
had her celebrated " hard times." Every Western State and 
Territory has had them at first. But settlement certainly has 
some effect on them, as their visits grow gradually less frequent, 
and are less destructive when they do occur. 

West of Fort Dodge I fell in with a party of five, journey- 
ing with wagon and tent to Sioux City, and on invitation cast 
in my lot with them. We traveled but fifteen miles or so a 
day, hunted and fished and lived on the proceeds, slept in the 
wagon and tent, and had all outdoors to cook, eat and breathe 
in. For a hundred miles on our way, we passed perhaps ten 



46 STUCK IN " PURGATORY." 

liouses ; tlie general characteristics everywhere the same. Down 
a long slope for seven or eight miles, the road would bring us 
to a creek or slough, along which would be a scattering growth 
of timber; and about "one farm deep" on each side fenced in. 
From this valley we would rise by gentle inclines to the next 
"divide," five or ten miles of gently rolling prairie; then 
down another slope to the next slough, or creek, and consequent 
settlement, fifteen or twenty miles from the last. At one place 
we traversed twenty-five miles without sight of a house. Far 
.as the eye could pierce the green and Avaving grass, now full 
grown, made the country appear a very paradise of herders ; 
and daily my ideas of vastncss enlarged till I wondered where 
the people were to come from to cultivate these fertile fields. 
Then there Avas but one railroad across Iowa; now there are 
four, all stimulated by the completion of the Union Pacific. It 
had just been made public that the Dubuque and Sioux City 
Railroad Avas to be completed soon, and the Avave of immigration 
AA-as rolling in. Two years after, the road Avas completed, and 
already the line I traveled pi^esents a. succession of cultivated 
fields and tasty homes, a region diversified Avith orchards, Avhitc 
and red Avith clover tops, or yellow Avith heavy-headed grain. 
Tiien Iowa had one acre in seventeen under cultiA'ation ; now 
she has one in twelve, and a population of nearly a million and 
three quarters. The State Avill easily support fifteen million 
peoi)le by agriculture alone. 

The sloughs grew steadily worse as avc proceeded Avestward, 
and Avere bridged but slightly or not at all. We passed " Pur- 
gatory" safely, but mired and stuck in "Hell" — two very bad 
sloughs near Sac City. We stripped in the Avagon, got out into 
mud and Avater waist-deep, and by an hour's hard work got over 
safely. Not so fortunate Avere a party of Norwegians just be- 
hind us, bound for Dakota, Avho stuck in the Avorst place. We 
"doubled teams" and Avorked with them two hours, but having 
horses while they had oxen, could do them little good. Our 
jftoutest man went in and carried their Avomen and children to 
dry land, and we loft them in statu quo — women and children cry- 
ing, men shouting, SAvearing, and beating their oxen, all in choice 







47 



48 A THIRTY-FIVE-MILE WALK. 

Norwegian. Doubtless they had to carry out their entire load, 
bundle at a time, and take the wagon to pieces. Well saith the 
border proverb, " Western travel is rough on women and oxen." 

At Ida City, still fifty miles east of Sioux City, I parted 
company with the excursionists, determined to travel southward 
to Omaha. Ida City consisted of one house, blacksmith's shop, 
and accompanying stables and outhouses. Thence it was thirty- 
five miles over the "divide" to Denison, on the Chicago & 
Northwestern Road ; and, as there were no houses on the way, 
I must make the distance in one day. After a day's rest, with 
"cold bite" in valise, and canteen of water, I bore southward 
over the hills; for the ridges gradually rise higher as one goes 
towards the Missouri. 

It was the 27th of June, and the heat was intense. Water I 
found but once on the road, and suffered considerably from thirst. 
It is cold enough in winter. The preceding one five persons 
had frozen to death on this route, having lost their way in sud- 
den snow storms. 

Twenty-eight miles on my way I found two new dwellings 
erected in a beautiful valley, where two brothers had just moved 
their families and opened a stock farm. This was a delightful 
surprise, and at this arcadia I rested till sundown and took 
supper, then finished my journey in the cool of the evening. By 
half past nine I had finished ray walk of thirty-five miles with- 
out serious fatigue, nor did I feel any ill consequences next day. 
Not bad for an invalid. I felt that I was ready for the plains, 
and taking the midnight train entered Omaha early on Sunday 
morning the 28th. 

The place had been represented to me as a paradise for the 
enterprising, but first impressions did not confirm the idea. A 
furious rivalry raged between the city and Council Bluffs on 
the eastern side of the Missouri ; pretty much in the "You're 
another!" style of argument. Omaha people spoke of the 
Bluffs as " East Omaha," " Milkville " and " Iowa-town ; " the 
Bluffites retorted with sarcastic remarks about "Bilkvillc," 
"Traintown," and the "Union Pacific Depot over the river." 
The Omahas assured me that the Bluffs were overrun by people 



OMAHA VS. THE BLUFFS. 49 

out of employment; that there were ten lawyers to every case, 
doctors till no one could count them, and so impecunious that 
when a man once fell on Main Street and broke his leg they 
rushed up in such numbers, and made such contest over the 
patient, that the mayor was compelled to read the Riot Act. I 
soon found, as a faithful chronicler, that, like Herod Otus, fami- 
liarly known as "History's Dad," I must carefully distinguish 
between what I saw and what I heai'd. The Western mind is 
expansive and generous; full measure is what they always give 
in local history. I think it must be in theair; that men breath- 
ing this light, dry and health inspiring atmosphere, like the 
Delphian priestess, go mad in poloquent fury, and talk in strains 
of poetic exaggeration. 

Therefore, before I go far enough West to catch the same 
disease, I will indulge in one chapter of hard, prosaic fact. As 
I have now reached the border of the Far West i>i'oper, a 
general description of the whole country beyond the Missouri 
will better enable the reader to understand the next four years 
wandering. The facts are collated from observations in fifty 
thousand miles of travel, from the reports of personal friends 
in whom I repose confidence, from official surveys, and other ac- 
credited sources. Many facts in a limited space being my chief 
object, the reader who is bent only upon amusement may skip 
the following chapter. 
4 



CHAPTER II. 

A COMMON MISTAKE. 

Our land of promise — Pleasing errors — Painful but wholesome truths — " The 
Great American Desert" not a myth — Causes of sterility — Drought — Eleva- 
tion and cold— Alkali — Minerals— Bitter Creek — " Journey of Death" — Travel 
on the Deserts — Bunch grass — Grand divisions of the West — View of the 
Plains — Routes across the continent — Freighting under difficulties — Railroad 
and emigration circulars — Caveat emptor : " Let the buyer look out." 

HE "Far West" is the land of promise to ten million 
young Americans; but of all those who go West, nine 
out of ten go just far enough to form an erroneous idea 
of all beyond. They visit eastern Kansas and Nebraska, 
and traverse the fertile strip which extends from one to 
two hundred miles west of the Missouri — the only part of the 
entire West which answers to the rosy views of the expectant 
pilgrim. There they find the rich bottom lands, the green 
rolling prairies and fertile vales of political romance; and it is 
that region, perhaps two hundred by twelve hundred miles 
in extent, intermediate between the Missouri line and the 
high plains, which is taken as the basis of comparison by the 
hopeful visitor, who imagines that with the exception of a few 
mountain chains it is much the same all the way to the Pacific. 
It is difficult to convince sucli^that in the West are regions of 
utter desert so vast that a New England State might be hidden 
in them, and only pass for a respectable oasis. 

Any route across the continent must traverse a complete 
desert from five hundred to a thousand miles wide. The Union 
Pacific enters upon it about Laramie, and with the exception 
of Salt Lake Valley, and perhaps two or three others, con- 
tinues in it all the way to the Sierras. The Northern Pacific 
strikes it at the Mauvaises Terres of Dakota, and thence bar- 
50 



THE AMERICAN DESERT. 61 

renness is the rule and fertility the exception to the entering in 
of Washington Territory. The Southern and thirty-fifth par- 
allel roads strike it in western Texas or at the Rio Grande, and 
traverse it to Southern California. 

Draw a line on longitude 100° from British America to 
Texas; then go 800 miles westward, and draw another from 
British America to Mexico, and all the area between these two 
lines — 800 by 1200 miles in extent; or in round numbers a 
million square miles — is the "American Desert:" a region of 
varying mountain, desert and rock; of^ prevailing drought or 
complete sterility, broken rarely by fertile valleys; of dead 
volcanoes and sandy wastes; of excessive chemicals, dust, 
gravel and other inorganic matter. Only the lower valleys, 
bordering perennial streams, or more rarely some plateau on 
M'hich water can be brought from the mountains for irrigation, 
or still more rarely a green plat in some corner of the mountains 
Avhere there is an unusual amount of rain, or percolation of moist- 
ure from above, constitute the cultivable lands; all the rest is 
rugged mountain, rocky flat, gravel bed, barren ridge scantily 
clothed with sage brush, greasewood or bunch grass, or complete 
desert — the last coverino; at least one-third of the entire rco-ion. 

The causes of these deserts may be summed up under four 
heads : 

I. Drought. 

II. Elevation and consequent cold. 

III. Excess of inorganic matter, as rock, gravel, etc. 

IV. Excess of chemicals, such as soda, alkali and plants 
destroying salts. 

Generally more than one, and often all, of these causes com- 
bine; but for the convenient reference of the reader I will con- 
sider them in their order : 

I. 

Drought is the prevailing characteristic of all the country far 
west of the Missouri — increasing westward from that river till 
one has crossed to the Pacific slope. The causes of this west- 
ward increasing aridity are found in the greater elevation, the 



52 A LITTLE SCIENCE. 

trend of the mountains and tlie direction of tlie prevailing 
winds. Look ujjon the map of the eastern hemisphere, and 
observe the alternations of desert and fertility between the 
parallels of 20° and 30° north, and note that the desert 
steadily increases as we go westward. The causes briefly 
stated are these : Tlie clouds, surcharged with moisture from 
the Pacific, are carried by the prevailing winds over China 
and Anam, with abundant showers; they are wrung dry, so to 
speak, in passing the high Himalayas, and float over southern 
Persia and Afghanistan without discharge. They gather again 
a little moisture from the Persian Gulf, and hence tiiere is rain 
a little way inland in Arabia; a little more water is obtained 
from the Bed Sea, and light showers sometimes fall in Egypt, 
whence they sweep over the whole length of the Sahara with- 
out a fertilizing shower. Thence across the Atlantic, loaded 
with moisture, the clouds yield immense rains uj)on tlie next 
intervening continent, producing the dense jungles and luxu- 
riant vegetation of tropical America. In like manner the sum- 
mer winds from the Pacific send in upon California heavy 
mists, which are caught and condensed by the Coast Range, 
Mhence the valleys opening toward the west are green through- 
out the year. Between the Coast Range and the Sierra Neva- 
das the great interior valley of California has rain in winter 
only when the moisture is wafted from the south, and east of 
that range the Great Basin is nearly all a complete desert, the 
rim of the inclosing mountains admitting only the clouds of 
highest range and least moisture from the south. Between 
that and Kansas still interposes the loftiest range of the Rocky 
Mountains, more completely shutting off the summer clouds 
and leaving all that elevated region, for three hundred miles 
east of the mountains, to depend upon the uncertain chance of 
winter snows, upon southeast winds and the percolation of 
moisture from higher basins and mountain hollows. Progress- 
ing thence eastward, we come more and more within the range 
of winds from the Gulf, and more into a region of moisture. 
Hence all Western Kansas, Nebraska, and Dakota must suffer 
from frequent droughts, and the region as far east as West- 
ern Iowa and Minnesota occasionally' from the same cause. 



HIGH AND DRY. 53 

II. 

The general elevation of the Great "West would alone render 
much of it unfit for agriculture. Let us for illustration 
take the Phitte Valley and general line of the Union Pacific. 
Omaha is nine hundred and sixty -six, and Cheyenne nearly 
six thousand feet above sea-level ; and throuo;h this long: ride 
of five hundred and sixteen miles there is a gentle and almost 
continuous up grade, averaging ten feet to the mile. In no 
place does it exceed thirty feet, while in two places it sinks to a 
level, and on two short distances there is a downgrade: the 
first on entering the Platte Valley from the hills just west 
of Omaha, and the second from Archer, a few miles east of 
Cheyenne, down into Crow Creek Valley. 

From a car window one may note a curious though very 
gradual and almost imperceptible change in soil and climate, 
and consequently in landscape and natural j)roductions. Four 
hundred miles west of Omaha we find a high, dry country, for 
the -most part fit only for pasturage, where frost may be looked 
for any month in the year. 

Wyoming contains 97,000 square miles, and not a foot of 
land less than 4000 feet hin-h. Colorado has about the average 
elevation of Wyoming, Denver being nearly on the level of 
Cheyenne. IManifestly the high plains of these two Territories 
can never be of value except for grazing. Utah, as reduced, 
contains over 60,000 square miles; but, except possibly a few 
of the sunken deserts of the south, the lowest valley is higher 
than the average summit of the Allegheny Mountains, the sur- 
face of the Salt Lake being 4250 feet above the sea. Of the 
121,210 square miles in New Mexico, all are upwards of 3000 
feet above the sea, except some small portions of the plains east 
of the Rocky Range, and the lower part of the Rio Grande 
valley. All of the Territory west of that river rises in a series 
of lofty plateaus, and Santa Fe, the capital, is so high that its 
summer temperature is about that of Quebec. Nevada has the 
same general level as Utah, but its principal towns are much 
higher than those of the latter, having been built by miners 



54 



COLD SUMMERS. 




CROSSING THE PLAINS. 

instead of agriculturists; and the smallest number of its citizens 
can find fertile land enough for a garden. With 98,000 square 
miles the State has about as much good land as three average 
counties in Ohio. 

Even in tlie most elevated regions considerable tracts are 
found with every element of fertility, but yielding only grass, 
every attempt to raise grain having failed. In Parley's Park, 
in the Wasatch Mountains, Heber Kimball cultivated wheat 
for several years ; it was in the flower by the first of September, 
and was cut off by the first frost. At Soda Springs, Idaho, the 
" Morrisite " Mormons tried for many years to raise crops, and 
only succeeded, and that but poorly, with potatoes ; they then 
turned their attention to cattle raising, in which they prospered. 
At the Navajo farms — in Arizona — I have seen icicles six 
inches long on the rocks, only 300 feet above the fields, on the 
18th of June; and in 1871, when the Indians had with great 
labor brought forward a crop of corn, and j>lanted young orchards, 
on the night of May 31st a storm of sleet froze every plant 



ALKALI. 55 

and tree solid to the ground. A similar experience has followed 
the attempt to cultivate the soil in most of these high localities; 
and if there were no other causes, elevation alone would render 
half the Far West unfit for the farmer. Nor is this a difficulty 
that can be overcome by any art of man. Those who talk so 
glibly of the reclamation of waste lands in the West must wait 
until nature flattens out the country, and brings it down into 
the region of warmer air, and more abundant moisture. Provi- 
dence seemingly did not intend that farming should be the 
leading interest of the Rocky Mountain region ; its true wealth 
is to be found in mining and grazing. 

III. 

Of barrenness caused simply by lack of soil little need be said. 
I have traveled for days together over ridges of gravel, or tra- 
versed hundreds of miles with a basis of little more tlian solid 
rock, or with barely soil enough for scrubby growths of pine; 
and generally throughout tliC Rocky Mountains, instead of 
being green as are the slopes of the Alleghenies, all the steeps 
are gray and bare. From the summit of the Sierra Madre in 
New Mexico, 400 miles westward, I saw no other rock than 
sandstone, which, disintegrating and blowing down upon the 
valleys, was slowly covering the fields of the "lost race" and 
obliterating what little fertility remained. 

IV. 

ALKALI is the popular name applied everywhere in the 
West to that bi-carbonate which whitens thousands of square 
miles of the interior plains between the Black Hills and the 
Sierras. East of the former it is often seen in quantity suffi- 
cient to appear like hoar frost upon the grass, or render barren 
a small plat of ground; but farther west it lies in vast beds, or 
mingled with the soil in such quantities as to poison the water, 
and destroy all vegetation. Gazing from a car window on tiie 
Union Pacific, somewhere not far west of the Platte crossing, 
the traveler is surprised to see flour or very white ashes, as he 
supposes, sowed in streaks and patches along the ground j and 



56 



WHITE DESERTS. 




STAGE CROSSING THE DESERT. 



liere and there in the fertile soil of the valleys a pale purple 
streak on the ground, completely bare of grass, shows the pre- 
sence of alkali. But west of Medicine Bow one finds it in the 
mass: for miles the country is of a dirty white complexion, and 
in dry weather tiie irritating dust powders the traveler till all 
races are of one hue. Where the trace is very slight, it can be 
"worked out " by cultivation ; but in general it destroys all 
plants except the hardy greasewood and sagebrush. 

For sixty miles on Bitter Creek, Wyoming, the soil is a mass 
of clay, or sand, and alkali — a horrible and irreclaimable desert 
which has made the place a byword. Nearly a hundred miles 



THE GREAT BASIN. 



57 



square of southern Idaho consists of a vast alkali plain, crossed 
only by stage routes; and in Xevada and Utah a single desert 
of "sand and soda" covers 30,000 square miles. Similar tracts 
are found in all the territories, notably the Jornada del Muerto, 
or "Journey of Death," in New Mexico, the "white desert" of 
Arizona, the "forty mile desert," of almost pure alkali, in 
Wyoming, the Salt Lake desert — 5000 square miles of sand, 
salt and alkali — and the central desert or basin of Nevada, in 
which are " lost " the Humboldt, Carson, Truckee, and Reese 
rivers, and a hundred smaller streams. On the stage routes 
across such tracts the animals labor through a cloud of dust 
and the coach drags heavily, the wheels often causing a dis- 
agreeable "cry" in the sand and soda, while the passengers 
endure as best they can the irritation to eye and nostril, and the 
slime formed upon the person by dust and sweat. This pene- 
trating alkaline dust sifts in at the smallest crevice, and even 
the clothing in a close valise is often covered with it. 

Salt is another ele- 
ment destructive to 
vegetation, but found 
in such excess only in 
the Great Basin. Just 
west of the Great Salt 
Lake is a tract of 
some five or six 
thousand square miles, 
which presents the 
general appearance of 
a dried salt marsh ; the subsoil is of sand and hard clay, 
mingled with flint and gravel, while the surface in the dry 
season dazzles and torments the eye with the glisten of salt and 
alkali. The Pacific Railway runs just north of this tract, and 
the old stage road crossed the narrowest part of it. For seventy 
milqs water is found in but one place, by digging; and in 
popular local phrase, "A jack-rabbit can't cross it without a 
haversack, while an immigrant crow sheds tears at the sight." 

So nuich for the bad features of the Great West : let us now 




NEEDS A HAVERSACK. 



68 BUNCH-GRASS. 

consider what there may be of value in such a country. First 
to be noted among the redeeming features is the growth of 
bunch-grass, which is found in patches over a country at least 
a thousand miles square. Bunch-grass chiefly differs from the 
verdure of the East in that it never forms a continuous sod or 
green sward ; it grows in scattered clumps, six or eight to the 
square rod, or thicker where the locality is favorable. One can 
span a bunch at the roots, but above it spreads ; sometimes 
several bunches grow so as to form a clump a foot wide. It is 
never of a deep green, and for three-quarters of the year is a 
regular gray-brown ; hence an Eastern man might ride all day 
through rich pastures of it, and think himself in a complete 
desert. It gets its entire growth in about six weeks, some- 
time between January and July according to the locality. It 
then cures upon the ground, and stands through the year look- 
ing very much like bunches of broorasedge. It is as nutritious 
as ripe oats, the species with a white top, containing a small 
black seed, being particularly fattening. With it animals make 
journeys of a thousand miles without an ounce of grain ; with- 
out it, nine-tenths of America between meridians 100° and 
120,° would be totally worthless. 

Probably the most disappointing feature in Rocky Mountain 
scenery, to all new comers, is the absence of a green landscape ; 
for with rare exceptions the traveler's eye does not rest in sum- 
mer upon an unvarying carpet of green as in the East. The 
bunch-grass is a pale green, or quite gray or yellow ; the small 
sage-brush is white, and the large variety blue, the grease wood 
is a dirty white, and the earth and rocks white, yellow or red ; 
hence the result is a neutral gray, which seems to shroud all 
creation in sober tints. One may ride all day through good 
bunch-grass pasture and his horse be walking in sand all the 
time; or through a tolerably rich country and never see an acre 
of that lively emerald which is the charm of an Oliio landscape. 
A plat of green sward is a rare sight in the Rocky Mountains ; 
but eastward, on the high plains, other grasses appear, changing 
by slow degrees to the heavy verdure of the Missouri Valley. 

But the true wealth of all that country is in its minerals. It 



DIVISIONS OF THE WEST. 59 

is my belief that there is not a range in the Rocky Mountains 
in vvhicli paying minerals cannot be found somewhere. Every 
year valuable mines are discovered in places which had been 
given up as hopeless by men of science. Four years ago 
there was scarcely one in a hundred who believed in the 
mineral wealth of Utah ; now her developed mines are worth 
$25,000,000. With more experience, more thorough prospect- 
ing, and improved modes of working, every part of that vast 
region will be found rich in some kind of minerals. 

The agricultural wealth of the country has been vastly over- 
rated; its mineral wealth equally underrated. Two or three 
more railroads across the continent are needed, to transport 
machinery and supplies, and then we can say that our mineral 
development has begun; what has been done will appear as 
nothing. 

Of timber all the West east of the Sierra Nevada has barely 
enough to supi)ly local necessity ; of the immense forests on 
that range I will treat in the proper place. 

The Great West falls naturally into five grand divisions: 

1. The Plains. 

2. The Rocky Mountains. 

3. The Colorado Basin. 

4. The Great Basin — also known as Fremont's and the In- 
terior Basin. 

5. The Pacific Slope. 

The term *' plains" is often, improperly, applied to the whole 
country between the Missouri and the Pacific; it belongs only 
to that vast inclined plane stretching from the river, from four 
to six hundred miles, to the foot of the mountains, and extend- 
ing from Texas far into British America. Ascending this 
gentle grade anywhere between parallels 35° and 45°, nearly 
the same general features are observable. Let the traveler 
start at the eastern border and go westward, on any section 
line, he will for fifty miles traverse a region rich in all the 
elements of plant growth ; the bottoms of inexhaustible fer- 
tility, the slopes equal to the Miami Valley, and the ridges 
generally good for wheat, and always most excellent pasture. 



60 * THE HIGH PLAINS. 

Along the streams is found a heavy growth of elm, walnut, 
hack berry and cot ton wood ; on the slopes and in the valleys, 
dense grass, almost the height of man, and over all the ridges, 
rich prairie grasses mingled with a few other plants, and beauti- 
fully varied by thousands of bright-hued flowers, mingling the 
colors of the temperate and semi-tropical regions. Westward 
up the streams we first notice a disappearance of the forest 
growth ; the timber shrinks to a mere fringe along the water's 
edge, or to stunted and gnarled bushes, contending feebly for 
life against increasing drought and annually recurring prairie 
fires. Walnut and ash disappear, and of large timber we find only 
the Cottonwood, box-elder and willow. A hundred miles out, 
west of the Neosho or near the Verdigris, a marked change is 
observable; only tlie valleys are first class land; the slopes are 
but medium, and the ridges full of rock and yielding scant 
grass. Fifty miles farther, on the slopes and ridges verdure in 
its strict meaning disappears; buffalo grass and gama grass 
take its place, and these show a tendency to bunch together, 
leaving large portions of the surface bare. The land rises into 
long ridges stretching away swell on swell as far as the eye 
can reach — as if a heaving ocean had suddenly become firm, 
fixed earth — and immense pampas spread away, alternating 
flint and gravel with strips of wiry, curly grass, or, at long 
intervals, a protected growth of stunted shrubs. The bright 
flowers of the lower valley disappear; those that remain appear 
to have lost color and odor; the blue larkspur alone retains its 
brightness; the wild sunflower and yellow saffron become dust- 
hued and dwarfish, while milkweed and resinweed sustain a 
sort of dying life, and cling with a sickly hold to the harsh and 
forbidding soil. Still the immediate valleys are rich; still 
occasional depressions or oval vales along the streams contain a 
few thousand acres of fertility, and half or more of the upland 
furnishes scant pasturage. The traveler, after toiling for hours 
over half-barren ridges, stunted grass-])lats, or acres of bare 
gray rock or dead clay, firids his road leading down to some 
stream, and from a rocky point beholds spreading for miles an 
oasis, beautiful by nature and delightful by comparison, watered 



DIFFICULTIES OF TRAVEL. 61 

by a clear stream, bordered by rich meadows, and marking the 
course of a long and narrow tongue of rich land. 

Here are the buffalo and antelope; all settlements are far 
behind, and the plains in all their vastness are ai'ound us. 
Three hundred miles out and we are on the Great American 
Desert; it exists, all doubts to the contrary notwithstanding, 
thouirh more than half of its surface east of the mountains is of 
some value for grazing. Now appear depressed basins, and 
valleys with vast patches of white saline matter dried upon the 
soil; short stunted grass, half-white with salt, saline plants 
resembling many upon the seashore, and vast flats and marshes, 
drying in the summer to beds of stifling dust. Travel over 
the high country with teams is there an impossibility. AVo 
must follow some stream for grass and water, and hence from 
time immemorial, aborigine, trapper, and emigrant have had 
three great routes across the plains — the Platte Valley, the 
Smoky Hill, and the Arkansas routes. The aborigine adopted 
these routes from the buffalo ; the hunter followed the Indian ; 
the emigrant was piloted by the hunter, and on the last two 
lines following came the railroads, obedient to the same neces- 
sities for water and a smooth route. 

Leaving these narrow routes as we approach the mountains, 
we find foothills and ridges extending far eastward on the 
])lains, cut by narrow gullies hundreds of feet in depth, with 
jjcrpendlcular sides — a series of covered ways, equal to the best 
devised by military skill, admirable hiding places and lines 
of approach for marauding Kiow^as or murderous Arrapahoes. 
Between the streams which create and mark out the lines of 
travel, extend broken ridges, crossed by the traveler only on 
low "divides," where the demands of commerce have made a 
crossing an imperative necessity. There the discouraged team- 
ster contends equally with heat-, thirst, and fatigue; grows old 
before his time in an unequal struggle with nature; toils over 
stony ridges destitute of grass and water, or labors through 
beds of noxious alkali, rising in ever wind-obeying clouds to 
excoriate his nostrils, weaken his eyes, or embitter the scant 
streams which are his only resource. 



62 



SOME GOOD LAND. 



Toiling through this last and worst stage of the plains the 
traveler enters among the foothills and first valleys of the 
Kooky Mountains, and finds renewed signs of fertility, but of a 
totally different kind from that along the Missouri. But we 
leave a full descrijition of the other divisions of the West until 
we reach them in the course of travel. 

Let not the reader hastily conclude that there is no good 
land in all the region I have outlined. There is considerable 
in scattered patches, though I have been more particular in 
describing the bad. The object of this chapter is to tell what 
you will not otherwise learn. The good land you will cer- 
tainly hear of from the magnificent circulars of railroad and 
emigration companies. 




MT. BAKER AND THE CASCADE RANGE, FKOM WHITBY^S ISLAND, AV. T. 




CHAPTEE III. 

FIVE WEEKS IN NEBRASKA. 

Omaha — Glorious anticipitations — Prosaic facts — A bit of history — Florence — 
An invasion of place hunters — Disappointment — On the road to Fontanelle — 
Elkhorn Valley — Lost on the prairie — " Any port in a storm " — Down to the 
Platte — Fremont — Down Platte Valley — Intense heat — Want of domestic 
economy — Pomantic hash — Victuals and poetry — Bovine apotheosis — Farm- 
ing in Nebraska — Room for three hundred thousand farmers — Climate — 
Society — " Professional starvation " — Through Sarpy County — Youthful con- 
nubiality — Artificial groves — Increase of rain-fall — Omaha politics — " Bilks " 
— " Hunting for work, — hoping to not find it." 

fi.REAT is Omaha, George Francis Train and the Credit 
Mobilier! Such was the shibboleth of the Oraahas when 
_ J/ I first made their acquaintance in June, 1868. He who 
<i>'-p^ was not prepared to swear by this local trinity >vas jocu- 
larly advised to emigrate or make his will. At the pre- 
sent writing the second is for the tenth time a " martyr to prin- 
ciple,"— nobody knows to what principle, — viewing the world 
through crossbars, and the third has become a national scandal, 
from which an odor of corruption pervades the whole land ; but 
the first still survives, and with a more solid basis of prosperity. 
It took me two hours to discover that there was no situation 
waitins: for me in Omaha. For some weeks before reaching the 
city I had continually heard, "It's the great city of the near 
future," "The heart of the Continent beats there," etc. ; and in 
walking twice along Farnham Street I encountered some fifty 
persons looking for "light, easy and genteel employment." 

But after a few days' stay I was convinced that no place in 
America had been "so well lied about," as no place had been 
exposed to a wider range of praise and blame. Tliat the city 
had a future and a bright one was certain; but that five men 
were dazzled in the hope of that future, and destined to lose 

63 



64 



PEIMITIYE TIMES. 



time and money waiting for it, to every one that made a success, 
seemed equally certain. Let us on this jjoint indulge in a little 
history. 

Omaha was laid out in 1854, soon after the organization of 
Nebraska Territory, and for several years gave little promise of 
future greatness; in fact, it was quite outrun by the little settle- 
ment of Florence, six miles north, of which the Omahas now 

speak patronizingly as 
a " very pretty suburb," 
destined in their sau- 
o;uIne view to be the 
Spring Grove or Brook- 
lyn to their future Go- 
tham. Florence was 
the original "Winter- 
Quarters " of the Mor- 
mons, where they ar- 
rived late in 184G, after 
their expulsion from 
Nauvoo and journey 
through Iowa. Hun- 
dreds of them died there 
of actual want ; some 
were poisoned by eating 
wild roots, and the Flo- 
rence graveyard con- 
tains the remains of 
seven hundred of these 
victims. J. K. Mitchell, 
founder of Florence, induced the Legislature to finish one ses- 
sion there — after that body had broken up in a row at Omaha. 
Soon after Mitchell died, and his town ceased to be a rival. 
Omaha contained, in 18G0, two thousand people; in 18G4, four 
thousand; then the Union Pacific got fairly under way, and in 
three years the population doubled. A census taken by the 
city authorities a few days before my arrival, returned the popu- 
lation at 17,600, and the next year they made it 25,000. One 




'WANTED : LIGHT AND GENTEEL 
EMPLOYMENT." 



SITUATIONS AVANTED. 65 

year thereafter came a fearful cpiclemic and swept away 12,000 
of these — at least, that strikes inc as the easiest explanation, for 
the National Census of 1870 only credited Oinaiia with some 
13,000 people. Council Bluffs, which had never claimed more 
than 12,000, suffered but little reduction from the census 
epi<lemic. 

The growth of Omaha was encouragingly rapid ; but the 
AVestern mind is queerly constructed, and great on anticipation. 
The air is light, dry and healthy, and the world looks big west 
of the JMissouri; every man feels that the range of all outdoors 
is his pasture, and is hopeful as a millionaire if he have a few 
corner lots, and ten dollars in his pocket. Hence magnified re- 
ports, and glowing promises of more rapid growth in the next 
two years; and thousands of young men in the Northern and 
Eastern States imagined that all they had to do was to come to 
Omaha, and fortune would shower her favors on them. There 
was an immense immigration in 1868, of just such material as a 
new State does not want, and for every clerk's or bookkeeper's 
position there were a hundred applicants. But the ninety-nine 
rejected did not particularly suffer. Some footed it eastward, 
some tried their fortune farther west, and some went into the 
country and learned' to till the soil; for men will work rather 
than starve, and there is abundant provision in Nebraska for 
men to hoe corn and cultivate muscle. But each of the disap- 
pointed wrote to his friends or to the press, and for the rest of 
that year Omaha was the best abused city in the West. 

The heated term was at its worst, and after ten days in 
Omaha I once more took my pilgrim staff for the country, fol- 
lowing out the California Trail. The telegraj)h by the road 
side, continuous to San Francisco, awakened some singular 
reflections: of the time but a few years past when this was the 
last outpost of civilization on the long route to the Pacific; of 
the tens of thousands who made this their starting point for a 
new Eldorado, and the thousands from every State whose 
graves line the trail all the way to the Sacramento. Now the 
border of cultivation and settlement is hundreds of miles west- 
ward ; lialf the distance to the mines is traversed by rail, and 
5 



66 



PAPILLION VALLEY. 




OMAHA CITY. 



in a year or two more the California Trail will be but a trail on 
the page of history. 

I own no real estate in Nebraska — nocorner lots in Omaha; 
why, then, should I go into raptures over the neighboring 
country? But I cannot forbear an expression of gladness at 
my recollections of that trip: of miles on miles of cornfields 
■with heavy crops, and wheat fields just ready for harvesting; 
farm products of every kind in the best of order, and plenty 
smiling over all the land. Eight miles from the city brought 
rae into the valley of the Little Papillion {pro. Pap-ee-onh), 
where I spent the night with a minister of the German Refor- 
metl Church. That people have quite a settlement here, and 
are temperate, industrious and most desirable citizens. 

July 8th. — Journeyed on in a northwest direction. As this 
has been a hot dry summer, and no rain has fallen for two 
weeks, I am surprised at the appearance of the corn, which 
shows no sign of drought, is waist high, of a rich dark green, 
and growing rapidly. It appears that the soil and crops seldom 



SOIL AND CLIMATE. 67 

show the effects of drought, tliough much less rain falls in the 
course of the year than in Indiana. The hard freeze of the 
winter makes the ground pulverize finely and hold moisture 
better in summer, and it is generally dry enough to plow in the 
spring as soon as the frost is out of the ground. Settlers report 
that the soil is nearly as dry in winter as in summer, and it is 
only during the month of May — is it because the snows are 
then melting in the mountains? — that they have heavy rains 
here. The winds bother me a little. I am not yet free from 
the neuralgic affection consequent on last winter's troubles, and 
the breeze makes me feel giddy — more by its steadiness than its 
force. 

So my old neighbor contemplating emigration to Nebraska, 
may ask himself whether it is nobler in a man to suffer the 
stings and buffets of these outrageous winds, with freedom from 
winter rain and mud, or take refuge in the wooded region of 
Indiana, avoid the winds, and have the other evils. 

Turned straight north up the Papillion, lay by in the heat of 
the day, and took dinner with a Swede who had been here a 
year and understood perhaps fifty words of English. Fortu- 
nately he had served as a mercenary in France and Italy, and 
spoke both languages like a native. I recalled a little of my 
boarding-school French, which I hadn't had a chance to air for 
five years, and we carried on a mongrel conversation in a very 
barbarous mixture of French and Latin. 

He tells me there has been a famine in his native province, 
and that all Swedes here who can raise money have sent it to 
their friends and relations to pay their passage out, and that 
accounts for the many young people I see among them who do 
not appear to be of the family. They are stopping with their 
friends till they can get homes, which is but a little while in 
this marvelously fertile region, where every laborer is in demand, 
and where the State wants the hardy Scandinavian almost as 
badly as he wants it. 

I stop for the night with another of the "Deformed Dutch," 
as the Yankees hereabout irreverently style these German Pres- 
byterians. 



68 



A ROUS D FON TAN ELLE. 













>' -,^ ...:^, 



/"^ 




SCENE NEAR FONTANELLE. 



July 9th. — Bear away westward toward Fontanelle,and through 
a most delightful country, wandering at random among the far- 
mers, and boring them with questions on climate, soil, etc. The 
immigration here this year is great, and composed largely of the 
best cUiss of foreigners. Vacant lands have advanced in price 
from three to five dollars an acre; and farmers are buying land 
near their homesteads as fast as they can command the means, 
in the assured belief that it will double in value in a year or two. 
This is accounted the " garden spot of Nebraska." If the 
country only had plenty of timber it would be perfect. And 
the settlers are fast remedying that lack; for every farm has an 
artificial grove, and most of them are now old enough to add 
great beauty to the landscape. In places, large plats which 
have been planted ten or twelve years present the appearance 



LOST ON THE PRAIRIE. 69 

of natural forest. The country is gently rolling and the views 
very fine. At every turn in ,the road I exclaim, "Surely this 
cannot be excelled," and yet the next view as I move towards 
Fontanelle seems still more beautiful. 

July 10th. — A day about Fontanelle, which is a neat, country 
village, elegantly situated on a commanding ridge above the 
Elk horn river. 

Turning southwest late in the afternoon, I lost my way on 
the unbroken prairie north of the Platte, and soon after sundown 
reached a farndiouse which looked very uninviting by starlight, 
but was my only chance within ten miles. To my earnest in- 
quiry for fresh water, the settler answered that he had dug two 
wells, one seventy feet deep and got no water, but struck sand 
which "caved so he could not curb." This is the only such 
case I have found in the State. Sometimes they must dig deep, 
but they get as fine water as I ever tasted. The family were 
using water from the creek, of which one tinful satisfied and dis- 
gusted me. 

To my request for lodging he answered that I would find 
hard accommodations, but he never turned anybody away at 
night. No mention was made of supper, and I was conducted 
at once by a ladder to the upper story, where I turned in for the 
night on a shuck bed, and soon forgot in sleep all ray troubles 
but thirst. But oh, the visionary springs that tantalized me, 
the crystal streams that flowed in inviting, tormenting beauty 
through my dreams. How often did I see the " cot of my 
father, the dairy house nigh it, and the old oaken bucket that 
hung in the well," and wake, just as the treacherous water fled 
from my lips. 

July llth. — Daylight revealed a situation. My host's wife 
was insane — as he expressed it, "clean daft" — and his six chil- 
dren, ranging from one year old to ten, were growing up like 
wild bulrushes. A sort of breakfast was prepared, and I forced 
a scant ration of bread and coifee, but it was a signal triumph 
of a catholic stomach over a protesting nose. 

My host was going to Fremont, " to git his sod plow sot and 
sharped," and I took a seat in his wagon, and in an hour reached 



70 FREMONT. 

the summit of the slope leading down to the Phitte Valley. As 
I viewed the panorama of beauty my heart swelled at the glory 
and magnificence of the scene. Far as the eye could pierce to 
the east and west spread the plain, its surface covered with tall 
grass, now waving and sparkling" in the morning sunshine; 
along the opposite bluff ran the broad Platte fringed with tim- 
ber, and on the near bank, some five miles distant, the town of 
Fremont sho\ved like a toy village half buried in the green car- 
pet. Up the valley from the east rumbled tiie morning train 
on the Union Pacific, while far to the westward a band of 
Pawnees were just passing out of sight, seeming on the level 
plain, to fade into the blue horizon. The whole scene was em- 
blematic of progress, breathing the spirit of borderland poetry. 
I wanted to shout or sing. Eagerly I wished for a companion 
to talk in harmony with the scene and my feelings. But the 
man at my side was utterly unconcerned. He had seen it a 
thousand times, and Gallio-like, cared for none of these 
things. 

From the bluff the road across the ])laiu looked like a deep 
ditch with green banks, but this appearance was due to the rank 
grass reaching on each side nearly as high as the horses' backs. 
Entering between these green banks, the hitherto apathetic far- 
mer suddenly seized his whip and applied it vigorously to his 
team, shouting at every blow till they were in a gallop, while the 
Avas:on made fearful lurches, and our seatboard rattled over it in 
every direction. I bounced about the wagon-box, exerting all 
my ingenuity to save my limbs, and as soon as I could get 
breath shouted that there was no occasion for such hurry, to 
take it easy. His only reply in the intervals of plying the whip, 
was to point to the tall grass, from which I then observed pour- 
ing by hundreds, a peculiar sort of clipper-built fly, with green 
Iieads, black bodies, and yellow shoulder-straps, which were 
trying to settle on the horses, and only prevented by the latter's 
speed, I held on in desperation, and our speed did not slacken 
for two miles, until we reached the rising ground and got among 
the cultivated fields near Fremont. There, while I gathered 
myself up and took stock of abrasions and cuticular losses, the 



DOWN THE PLATTE. 71 

farmer killed the few flies which had stuck, each one leaving a 
bright red droj) of blood on the frantic animals. 

July 12th. — Spent Sunday at Fremont, a flourishing western 
Yankee town of 1200 people. No church or Sabbath school 
that I can hear of, but plenty of loafers on the hotel porch all 
day, sociable and communicative, discussing the hot weather, the 
grasshoj)pers, and the "craps." All agree that the " hoppers" 
are coming, and that it will be " mighty tough on the new set- 
tlers as ha'int got their claims paid for yet.'' Late p. m. walked 
five miles down the valley. 

July 13th. — The " hoppers" have come, but fortunately only 
a light invasion, and doing very little injury. A few fields of 
wheat in this valley are " nipped," and passengers say that for 
two or three miles on Papillion, nearly half the crop is destroyed. 
Travel slowly towards Omaha through the most fertile country 
I ever saw. Farmers estimate their wheat will average thirty 
bushels per acre. Corn still looks thrifty in spite of long con- 
tinued heat and drought. Thermometer stood at 100° for four 
hours to-day. Consequently I stood not at all, but lay by on 
the porch of a farmer's house till 4 p. M. Stopped for sujiper 
in Big Papillion Valley, at an inviting frame dwelling sur- 
rounded by fine fields of corn and wheat, from which I argued 
good cheer. My disappointment was terrible. Tea that drew 
my mouth awry, without milk ; butter, that defied me in self- 
conscious strength ; pork, the rankest that ever smelt to heaven ; 
and bread that defied my geology to classify. After due trial I 
ventured to assign it to the palaeozoic period. It lacerated my 
mouth ; it would have killed rats. For this entertainment (?) 
• my host required " six bits." 

Left in an ill-humor, and proceeded to criticize the western 
farmer's style of living. Why do so many of our people poison 
themselves — even those who are able to do better — when good 
food is just as cheap? How many families in Indiana and 
Illinois are cursing the climate for evils which three months' 
attention to the chemistry of common life would relieve ? 
Know ye not, that what a man eateth that he is ? Science has 
demonstrated that we are totally remade, bone and blood, brain 



i 2 GASTEONOMICAL. 

and muscle, every seven years. Thus our present selves are 
ever scooping up our future selves with knife, fork and spoon. 
And have not I, A. B., a vital interest in what the A. B. of 
seven years hence shall be ? Fried pork, watery potatoes, sloppy 
coffee, and sad bread ! How can the Hoosier or Sucker retain 
his self-respect when he remembers his component elements? 

The classic Greeks did well to locate the scjul in the stomach. 
I am not so sure but the enlightened moderns will return to 
that philosophy. The greatest piiilosophers to a man were 
lovers of good eating. Man, dominating the whole animal 
kingdom, selects only its noblest representatives as worthy to 
sink their individuality in his, by giving their meat and muscle 
to become part of his corporation. The highest compliment 
man can pay the ox is to eat him. By so doing he demonstrates 
that the bovine is worthy to be absorbed in tiie human ; and if 
we may believe that animal has a soul, how cheerful to reflect 
that it meets its proper apotheosis by adoption into the human 
spirituality. Viewed in that light these animals are indeed im- 
mortal ; they survive in us, their federal head and final repre- 
sentative. 

When a man says of the idol of his soul, " I love her well 
enough to eat her," what does he mean but this : that he has so 
intense an appreciation of her excellence that he would literally 
absorb it, swallow up as it were her rare combination of soul 
and body — beautiful simile! — translate her, so to speak, and 
make her a part of himself in fact as well as in figure. In this 
philosophical liglit, the lover's tender suggestion of amatory can- 
nibalism is really the most delicate of respectful compliments. 

Favor is deceitful, and beauty's only skin deep, but there is 
no disccunt on boned turkey and scalloped oysters. I have no 
sympathy with that class of transcendentalists, fortunately small, 
who deprecate any deep interest in the mere pleasure of eating. 

" We may live without sentiment, music and art, 
We may live witlioiit poetry, pictures or books, 
But civilized man cannot live without cooks." 

Having thus grumbled myself into good nature, I sauntered 



BEAUTIES OF NEBRASKA. 73 

on towards the city, stopping late in the evening with a prosper- 
ous farmer in Little Papillion Valley. 

July 14th. — A beautiful artificial grove of twenty acres on this 
farm, shows that, whatever be the true theory as to the origin 
of these prairies, the soil and climate have the capacity to pro- 
duce timber in abundance. My host says the trees are made to 
grow twice as fast for the first three years by cultivating corn 
among them. Most are cottonwood and soft maple. The 
locusts alonsc the road have attained a foot in thickness in 
eleven years. Nebraska has the land, the air, and the water; 
but lacks somewhat the timber and rock, though the last abounds 
iu a few localities. 

Reached Omaha to-day, and now sum up a few notes on 
rural Nebraska : 

For the width of the State and a hundred and fifty miles 
back from the Missouri, almost every foot of land is adapted for 
the comfort and sustenance of man. Thirty thousand square 
miles of the most fertile land in the world has even now (1873) 
but a hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants. There is abund- 
ant room for at least three hundred thousand farmers and stock- 
growers. Vacant lands can be purchased at from three to fifteen 
dollars per acre, according to location, the vicinity of railroads, 
etc. I had offers of as fine land as I ever saw, in the Papillion 
Valleys, within ten or twenty miles of the Union Pacific, for 
eight dollars per acre ; but it has no doubt doubled in price 
since. On the Elkhorn, above Fontanelle, is still much vacant 
land to be had very cheap. In the southern part of the State, 
between Lincoln and the eastern border, are large sections of 
railroad land to be had at moderate prices, on annual payments 
for seven years. Any live Yankee farmer can make the pay- 
ments on the land after the second year. Farther back lands 
are still cheaper, with fine facilities for grazing. 

On the slopes and in the valleys, the soil is continuous of the 
same quality for six feet below the surface. Immediately under 
this, lies a bed of soft, rather moist sand, which probably causes 
the soil to remain moist so long. In spite of the long droughts 
of 1868, the crops were very fine. ^yhile the valleys and 



74 HEALTH AND CLIMATE. 

slopes are best for corn, the uplands produce better wheat. 
After the hard freeze of winter, with no thaws, the soil pulver- 
izes finely in summer. It is never water soaked ; consequently 
never " bakes " or clods. The best farmers do not plow the 
laud in spring for wheat, after it has been cultivated two or 
three years; but merely harrow in the seed. 

Later experience in Nebraska convinced me that the State 
averaged as many clear days in winter as any part of America. 
I grumbled considerably about the wind at first ; it caused a 
giddy feeling in my head. But after I got over the neuralgia, 
bronchitis, catarrh, and six or eight other complaints I brought 
from Indiana, I rather liked it; and now I quite prefer a region 
with a ' ontinuous gentle breeze of six or eight miles an hour. 
My obs3;vation in the West has led me to conclude that regions 
with si ?ady winds are the most healthful. 

Soci.'ty in Nebraska will average. There is no section Mdiere 
they V ill murder a man outright because he is a Christian ; and 
none where they will disfranchise him if he is not. The 
standard of popular intelligence is high. The people are the 
most enterprising classes from those Eastern States, which have 
good public schools. The school system is equal to that of any 
State in the Union. So, on the whole, if you are native to any 
climate north of latitude thirty-five degrees, and have any "get 
up" about you, and can and will work, there's a show for you 
in rural Nebraska. 

As for professionals — well, most of the tow^ns have doctors 
and lawyers to all eternity, and insurance agents till you can't 
rest. Omaha had, in 1868, fifty-three attorneys: business, I 
should say, for about six. However, for an enterprising young 
man, without any capital to speak of, and just beginning a pro- 
fession, it offers as fine a field for successful starvation as any 
place I know. 

Finding at Omaha a dozen or more letters from old friends 
inquiring about Nebraska lands, I again started afoot, this time 
toward the southern part of tlie State. For a few miles below 
Omaha the country may be called hilly ; then it sinks by gentle 
slopes to the Platte Valley, and thence rolling prairie extends 



A VENTURESOME YOUTH. 75 

to the Kansas border. Traveled for the first day through a 
fine wheat region in Sarpy County, the fiirmers everywhere at 
work, but complaining much of the intense heat. Where I 
stopped for dinner there had been, the previous day, two cases 
of sunstroke, but neither seemed likely to prove fatal. Instead 
of the breeze generally prev'ailing on the prairie there was a 
dead calm, sultry and oppressive. 

At sundown I turned aside to an humble cabin flanked by a 
pretentious stable. Found no one at home but a girl and boy 
as I supposed, of whom seeking hospitality I enquired for the 
man of the house. An audible smile greeted me, and the lad 
replied that he was "the only man o' the house there was about." 
Further conversation developed the fact, that this youthful pair 
had been married ten months, and still lacked six weeks of nine- 
teen and sixteen years respectively. The girl-matron, " reck- 
oned she could get me something to eat, an' I could sleep in 
the barn-loft with brother Perry." 

Under the influence of a cup of tea she became more than 
social, stating that " Ike's folks was much agin the match, but 
Ike was a com in' out to pre-empt, and swore he'd have a 
woman to help him." I gazed at the young husband with 
that admiration the timid always feel for the brave. They 
" was married in Iowa, and both worked for one farmer three 
months to get money to pay for their things, then came right 
out an' pre-empted." Then she turned questioner, and put me 
in the witness-box : Where was I born and raised ? Didn't I 
like this country better than Injiana? And finally, after a 
pause, and with a sudden jerk of the head as if she had forgot- 
ten something important, " What do you do with your wife 
while you're trampin' round lookin' at the country?" I told 
her I had no wife, at which she was somewhat taken aback, 
but recovering handsomely, in a minute or two returned to the 
charge by asking why I had never married. I answered that 
I had hardly thought I was old enough, and no more questions 
were asked. I hud her there. 

Darkness came, and with it dense swarms of musquitoes 
from the neighboring bayous of the Missouri and Platte. 



76 



SMUDGE. 




SCENE 2S^EAK PAPILLION, KEBBASKA. 



The married boy ventured a remark that " Some 'uii had 
told him a muskeeter only lived one day, but he reckoned 
not; for they come up that holler by the fillion, and he wa9 
keen to swear that some big ones come back every day for a 
week." 

" Smudges" were lighted about the yard, and the house was 
enveloped in a cloud of smoke which soon silenced the cozening 
tormentors. "Brother Perry" then led tiie way, carrying an 
old kettle containing a "smudge," to the stable; we ascended 
to the loft by an outside ladder, and retired. The bed had a 
maximum of cord to a minimum of feathers, and I soon found 
that we had "jumped a claim" which the original squatters 
were determined not to vacate. Though small, they were nu- 
merous and unanimous, and enforced squatter law with blood- 
thirsty zeal ; so, after tossing and battling till midnight, every 



RAIX AND TIMBER. 77 

incli of my cuticle in a fever, I rose with a full appreciation of 
Byron's beautiful line • 

" No sleep till morn," 

and sat by a "smudge" till daylight. 

Thence south westward for a few days, I found the country 
about as that west of Omaha, but with more and cheaper vacant 
land. Every settler had an artificial grove of from ten to 
twenty acres. It is a frequent subject of remark in Indiana, 
that cutting the timber and clearing up the country is slowly 
tending to dry up the streams; that springs "go dry every 
summer which never did before." But here exactly the reverse 
jihenomena are presented. It is supposed that breaking up the 
land allows it to absorb more moisture than it could in the 
])rairie state ; and the settlers tell me that breaking up a hun- 
dred acres of sod will renew an old spring, and branches are 
starting in gullies which have been dry for hundreds, perhaps 
thousands, of years. Tiie oldest i)ioneers add, that the fall of 
rain in Western Nebraska and Kansas has doubled within the 
memory of man. 

I returned to Omaha to find it hot, physically and politically. 
The campaign of 1868 inaugurated; the days were too sultry 
for politics, but the nights were made hideous by party meet- 
ings. General Grant and party, including Generals Sherman 
and Sheridan, arrived from the West, and fifteen thousand 
people turned out to welcome them. Omaha then had a "float- 
ing population" worth studying. It was the half-way place 
between the East and the AVest. Thousands started for the 
mountains, got to Omaha, got out of money, and stopped dis- 
heartened. Thousands were started home from the mountains 
and got to the city in the same impecunious condition. Daily 
the tide of emigration rolled in from the East, and passed on to 
the Far West, leaving here a deposit of its worthless materials; 
and daily the refluent tide rolled back from the mountains, 
leaving a larger deposit of more worthless materials. The 
streets were crowded, but the crowds did not indicate a corre- 
sponding amount of money. Nineteen hotels and restaurants 



78 ^ FLOATEES." 

were in operation, and at every one of them "bilks" abounded. 
The floating class were in just that condition when men will 
steal or beg their provisions, but carefully save their money to 
buy whiskey. A thousand idlers were sitting about Omaha 
complaining of "hard times," and cursing the country, while in 
the rural districts the farmers were hunting in all directions for 
help, and oifering three dollars a day for harvesting and hay- 
ing. Verily something was wrong : " The chain and the 
bucket were not hitched together." 



CHAPTEE IV. 

ON THE UNION PACIFIC. 

Up the Platte Valley — Beauty by moonlight ; barrenness by day — Getting on to 
the desert— North Platte—" The gentle gazelle " — " Dog-town " — Not dogs, 
but rodents — " Indians ahead " — The dangerous district — Crossing the plains 
in 1866 — " The noble Red Man " — Cheyenne — Vigorous reduction of the popu- 
lation — Black Hill — Sherman — Down to Laramie — The Alkali Desert — 
Benton — A beautiful summer resort ! — Manners and morals (?) — Bravery of 
tJie impecunious — Murder and mob — Vigilantes — Murderer rescued by the 
military and escapes — Amusements — "^Big Tent " — ■" Now then, gentlemen, the 
ace is your winning card " — " Cappers " and Victims — No fairness in gambling. 

" The Yankee's place of heaven and rest 
Is found a little farther West." 

)|<i ND therefore, at 6 p. m. of July 31st, I started westward 
it by the Union Pacific. The intense and protracted heat 
had yielded at last ; a heavy rain of twenty-four hours 
5%^ had cooled the air, and washed the dust from the grass, 
leaving all the region along the road a beautiful rich 
green. The road ran through a well settled and cultivated 
country for about fifty miles, but a little west of Fremont, we 
ran out suddenly into the open prairie, consisting of the rolling 
slopes and broad fertile valley of the Platte. 

The sky was clear after the storm, and the sunset was one 
that, in Italy, would have been " gorgeous," " unrivalled," and 
worthy of any amount of florid description, but on-' our western 
prairie was simply beautiful. Then rose the harvest-moon, now 
at its full ; and leaning out of the car-window I drank in quiet 
enjoyment while grove, bluff and broad silvery Platte rolled by 
in ever varying panorama of loveliness. Nor was it till mid- 
night that wearied of gazing I went to sleep. 

Daylight came, the loveliness was gone, and the whole vScene 
had changed. For landscape beauty there was only grandeur ; 

79 



lUi'H 




80 



FIKST VIEW OF THE PLAINS. 81 

for rich green prairie and picturesqne groves there was only the 
majesty of distance, an expanse withont life, vast plains and rol- 
ling hills. The broad Platte, like a stream of molten silver by 
moonlight, now appeared its real self: a dirty and uninviting 
lagoon, only differing from a slough in having a current, from 
half a mile to two miles wide, and with barely water enough to 
fill an average canal ; six inches of fluid running over another 
stream of six feet or more of treacherous sand; too thin to walk 
on, too thick to drink, too shallow for navigation, too deep for 
safe fording, too yellow to wash in, too pale to paint with — 
the most disappointing and least useful stream in America. 
Here and there in the river are low islands, barely rising above 
the water and scantily clothed with brush ; and in the bends of 
the stream, more rarely, clumps of large timber or green 
meadows. 

Vegetation begins to show signs of drought. The grass is 
short and wiry, with a sort of dried, cured look ; no more bright 
flowers are seen, and neither house nor cultivated field appears. 
As we move westward through the day we occasionally see the 
blue larkspur and then the reslnweed and greasewood ; finally 
appear the "sand-burr," a species of cactus, and a stunted 
flower resembling the fuchsia with weakened pink and blue 
tints. We appear to be running on a dead level ; for though 
the route is up the Platte Valley, the ascent is so gradual as to 
be quite imperceptible. At places the road is perfectly straight 
for several miles, and at one point I can stand on the rear plat- 
form and note the lines of rail steadily converging till they 
unite and fade away beyond the reach of the eye in far per- 
spective. 

We take breakfast at North Platte — 291 miles from Omaha 
— an excellent one, too; all the delicacies of an Eastern hotel, 
and antelope and buffalo steaks in addition, for the moderate 
price of a dollar and a quarter. Such were the rates till the 
road was finished. Now one dollar is the standard price for a 
meal from Omaha to Ogden. Thence we move out upon a high, 
dry plain, following near the South Platte, having left the 
junction at North Platte, and at 10 A. M., the cry of " Ante- 
6 



82 STRANGE ANIMAI.S. 

lopes ! " brings every tourist to the window. Our car was filled 
exclusively with "pilgrims;" not a man in it had ever been 
west of the Missouri in his life, and none were ashamed to ex- 
hibit curiosity. For an hour or two we saw only single ante- 
lopes, and at a distance; then they appeared inconsiderable 
numbers, one herd containing seventy. They came so near the 
track that we could see the brightness and inquisitive stare of 
their eyes, then at the sound of a pistol shot from the platform 
turned and bounded swiftly away over the hills, displaying in 
perfection all the poetry of motion. They are a little larger 
than our common goat, but rather resemble the deer. The meat 
I think equal to venison in the fall and winter, but it is rather 
hard and tough from May to September. They can be tamed, 
but domesticating and handling appear to take all their wild 
vivacity out of them. Their sleek and shining coats roughen 
and the hair turns the wrong way; the eye loses its bright, and 
mobile softness, and they walk slowly about, looking more like 
sick goats than the "gentle gazelle" of poetry. They can be 
taken East, but with great difficulty ; for they are singularly 
tender in the back, and a slight blow will break the vetebrse, 
though one can carry off half a dozen shots in the legs or 
breast, and still escape the hunter. 

We next entered " Dog-town," eastern border of the prairie- 
dog country, which extends nearly two hundred miles eastward 
from the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, and over ten 
degrees of latitude. For over a mile the train runs through a 
continuous town, the prairie thickly dotted all the way with 
their mounds. It was a " good day for dogs " when we passed, 
and the little creatures seemed no way disconcerted by the train, 
but would sit on their haunches, and converse with each other 
in short yelps till a shot was fired from the cars, when hundreds 
of feet would twinkle in the air, and the whole community go 
under with amazing suddenness. One by one they would peep 
cautiously out, and soon reappear to gaze and bark till another 
shot. This peculiar yelp, like that of a young puppy, seems to 
be the only reason they are called dogs, for they have nothing 
else in common with the canine genus. They are not carni- 



A SCARE. 



83 




"dog-town" — UNION PACIFIC R. R. 



vorous, but live entirely on grass and roots ; they are shaped 
midway between a squirrel and a ground-hog, have teeth like 
the former, and belong to the class Rodentia. 

The usual rumor was circulated of Indians having attacked 
and plundered the next train ahead of ours, producing the usual 
amount of nervousness to reward the perpetrators of the hoax. 
Such rumors were started regularly on every train for a year or 
two after the road was completed, and obtained ready credence 
from the well-known fact that this section — on the South Platte 
— had been the most dangerous part of the old stage route. In 
1866 the U. S. Mail Coach, carrying a military guard and 
several armed passengers, was attacked near here by a hundred 
mounted Sioux and Cheyennes, and escaped after a running fight 
of twenty miles. A private party, in prairie ambulances, just 
behind were not so fortunate. They lost all their stock, and 
took refuge in a " buffalo wallow " a few rods in circumference 
— a splendid natural earth-work — and kept the savages at bay 



FOUR HUNDRED MILES OF DESERT. 85 

for two (lays till they were relieved by a party of soldiers. 
Two of their number, captured by the savages, were roasted in 
full view of the besieged. 

But now a costly peace had been purchased, and Spot Ed. 
Tail and lady were guests of the Rollins House in Cheyenne. 
Now as we glide swiftly through the *' dangerous district," a 
small squad of soldiers appears at every section house, drawn 
up to receive us, and standing at a " present," till the train has 
passed. Their barracks are walled to the roof with sod, and a 
little way off is a small sod fort, connecting with the barracks 
by an underground passage. Occasionally we see a group of 
Indians looking on from distant sand-hills, and the romantic 
may fancy them musing sadly, or mutually indulging in lofty 
strains of pathos, over this curious suioke-breathing monster 
which is fast hastening the destruction of their race. But in 
prosaic fact the Indian seldom if ever thinks of such things. 
He is moved by a blind instinct to plunder and kill, and is not 
capable of a definite war policy. Not one in a hundred of the 
plains Indians has any conception of the comparative greatness 
of the white race. 

For four hundred miles on our way there are no towns — 
unless the eating stations deserve that nan)e. We dine at Sid- 
ney, and late in the day reach Cheyenne, five hundred and six- 
teen miles, and twenty-five hours, from Omajui, where I stop 
for two days note-gathering. Six months since it was the 
"great city of the plains," lively and wicked, with perhaps six 
thousand people ; now it is a quiet and moral burg of some 
fifteen hundred inhabitants. Seeking information of a young 
resident, a traveler was informed tliat the population origin- 
ally amounted to ten thousand, but they had lately shot and 
hanged so many that he *' reckoned three thousand was now 
about the figure." 

From Cheyenne the road is nearly level to Hazard Station, 
officially pronounced the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains; 
and thence the grade rises an average of eighty feet to the mile 
to Sherman, highest point on the whole road, and Summit of 
the Rocky Mountains — that part, however, better known in 
the W«st as the Black Hills. 



o 

a 

12! 

o 

Si 

a 
w 




86 



ALKALI PLAINS. 87 

Thence the road makes a vast bend, running rapidly down- 
ward all the time, for forty miles to the new city of Laramie. 
It had enjoyed three months of remarkable prosperity as the 
terminus, and had sprung from nothing to a city of five thou- 
sand people ; but the terminus town had just been moved a 
hundred miles farther west to Benton, and Laramie, in the 
sixth month of its existence, was entering on a sickly old age. 
After two days there J. boarded a construction train for the 
terminus. 

Westward the grassy plain yields rapidly to a desert ; at 
Medicine Bow we took final leave of the last trace of fertility, 
and traversed a region of alkali flats and red ridges for fifty 
miles. In the worst part of this desert, just west of the last 
crossing of the Platte, we found Benton, the great terminus 
town, six hundred and ninety-eight miles from Omaha. Far 
as they could see around the town not a green tree, shrub, or 
spear of grass was to be seen; the red hills, scorched and bare 
as if blasted by the lightnings of an angry God, bounded the 
white basin on the north and east, while to the south and west 
spread the gray desert till it was interrupted by another range 
of red and yellow hills. All seemed sacred to the gtr/Ius of 
drought and desolation. The whole basin looked as if it 
might originally have been filled with lye and sand, then dried 
to the consistency of hard soap, with glistening surface tor- 
menting alike to eye and sense. 

Yet here had sprung up in two weeks, as if by the touch of 
•Aladdin's Lamp, a city of three thousand people; there were 
regular squares arranged into five wards, a city government 
of mayor and aldermen, a daily paper, and a volume of 
ordinances for the public health. It was the end of the 
freight and passenger, and beginning of the construction, divi- 
sion ; twice every day immense trains arrived and departed, 
and stages left for Utah, Montana, and Idaho; all the 
goods formerly hauled across the plains came here by rail 
and were reshipped, and for ten hours daily the streets were 
thronged with motley crowds of railroad men, Mexicans and 
Indians, gamblers, " cappers," and saloon-keepers, merchants. 



88 BEAUTIES OF BENTON. 

miners, and mulewhackers. -The streets were eight inches deep 
in white dust as I entered the city of canvas tents and pole- 
houses ; the suburbs appeared as banks of dirty wliite lime, 
and a new arrival with black clothes looked like nothing so much 
as a cockroach struggling through a flour barrel. 

It was sundown, and the lively notes of the violin and guitar 
were calling the citizens to evening diversions. Twenty-three 
saloons paid license to the evanescent corporation, and five dance- 
houses amused our elegant leisure. In this place I wasted my 
time for two weeks, waiting for something to turn up, and 
lounged about the places most dangerous to pocket and morals 
with the happy indifference of a man who has nothing to lose. 
It cannot be denied, I think, that the man who has nothing is 
much braver than he who has plenty ; and I further susj^ect 
the bravest of our soldiers will admit, that if, about the time he 
was ready to advance on Vicksburg or Richmond, he had 
learned that some obliging old relative had conveniently died, 
after leaving him $50,000, his appetite for fight would suddenly 
have lost much of its edge. 

The regular routine of business, dances, drunks and fist- 
fights met with a sudden interruption on the 8th of August. 
Sitting in a tent door that day I noticed an altercation across the 
street, and saw a man draw a pistol and fire, and another stag- 
ger and catch hold of a post for support. The first was about 
to shoot again when he was struck from behind and the pistol 
wrenched from his hand. The wounded man was taken into a 
Cyprians tent near by and treated with the greatest kindness by 
the women, but died the next day. It was universally admit- 
ted that there had been no provocation for the shooting, and the 
general voice was, " Hang him ! " 

Next day I observed a great rush and cry in the street, and 
looking out, saw them dragging the murderer along towards the 
tent where the dead man lay. The entire population were out 
at once, plainsmen, miners and women mingled in a wild throng, 
all insisting on immediate hanging. Pale as a sheet and 
hardly able to stand, the murderer, in the grasp of two stalwart 
^Vigilantes, was dragged through the excited crowd, and into the 



A HANGING SPOILED. 



«9 




IN THE HANDS OF THE VIGILANTES. 



tent where the dead man lay, and forced to witness the laying 
out and depositing in the coffin. 

Wiiat was the object of this movement nobody knew, bnt the 
delay was fatal to tiie hanging project. Benton had lately been 
decided to be in the military reservation of Fort Steele, and 
that day the General commanding thought fit to send a pro- 
vost guard into the city. They arrived just in time, rescued the 
prisoner and took him to the guard-house, whence, a week after, 
he escaped. 

But the excitement thus aroused seemed to have created a 
thirst for blood. I had just retired to the tent when I heard a 



90 " BIG TENT." 

series of fearful screams, and running to the door, saw the pro- 
prietor of a saloon opposite beating his " woman." He was a 
leading ruffian of the city, and of a hundred men looking on 
not one felt called upon to interfere. At length he released his 
hold, and struck her a final blow on the nose which completely 
flattened that feature, and sent her into the middle of the street, 
where she lay with the blood gushing in torrents from her' face, 
mingling with the white dust and streaking her clothing Avith 
gore. The provost guard arrived again, after it was all over, 
and took the woman away, but paid no attention to the man. 
Four days after, I saw them together again, having apparently 
made it up and living on the same free and easy terms of ille- 
gal conjugality. Two more rows wound up the evening, the 
last ending with a perfect fusillade of pistol shots, by which 
only two or three persons were " scratched " and nobody 
" pinked." For a quiet railroad town I thought this would 
do, and began to think of moving on. 

The jjreat institution of Benton was the " Big; Tent." some- 
times, with equal truth but less politeness, called the " Gamblei's' 
Tent." This structure was a nice frame, a hundred feet long 
and forty feet wide, covered with canvass and conveniently 
floored for dancing, to which and gambling it was entirely 
devoted. It was moved successively to all the mushroom ter- 
minus "cities," and during my stay was the great public resort 
of Benton. A description of one of these towns is a description 
of all ; so let us spend one evening in the "Big Tent," and see 
how men amuse their leisure where home life and society are 
lacking. 

As we enter, we note that the right side is lined with a splen- 
did bar, supplied with every variety of liquors and cigars, with 
cut glass goblets, ice-pitchers, splendid mirrors, and pictures 
rivalling those of our Eastern cities. At the back end a space 
large enough for one cotillon is left open for dancing; on a 
raised platform, a full band is in attendance day and night, 
while all the rest of the room is filled with tables devoted to 
monte, faro, rondo coolo, fortune-wheels, and every other species 
of gambling known. I acknowledge a morbid curiosity relat- 



92 "my hand against your eyes." 

ing to everything villainous, and, though I never ventured a 
cent but once in my life, I am never weary of watching the 
game, and the various fortunes of those who " buck against the 
tigor."^ 

During the day the " Big Tent " is rather quiet, but at night, 
after a few inspiring tunes at the door by the band, the long 
hall is soon crowded witii a motley throng of three or four hun- 
dred miners, ranchmen, clerks, " bullwhackers," gamblers and 
"cappers." The brass instruments are laid aside, the string- 
music begins, the cotillons succeed each other rapidly, each 
ending with a drink, while those not so employed crowd around 
the tables and enjoy each his favorite game. To-night is one 
of unusual interest, and the tent is full, while from every table 
is heard the musical rattle of the dice, the hum of the wheel, or 
the eloquent voice of the dealer. Fair women, clothed with 
richness and taste, in white and airy garments, mingle with the 
throng, watch the games with deep interest, or laugh and chat 
with the players. The wife of the principal gambler — a 
tall, spiritual and most innocent looking woman — sits by his 
side, while their children, two beautiful little girls of four and 
six years, run about the room playing and sliouting with n)erri- 
ment, climbing u])on the knees of the gamblers and eml)raced 
in their rude arms, like flowers growing on the verge of frightful 
precipices. We take our stand near the monte table, where a 
considerable crowd gathers, silently intent on the n)otions of 
the dealer. He throws three cards upon the cloth, points out 
one as the " winning card," then turns them face downward, 
and proceeds to toss them about, talking fluently all the time. 

"Now, then, here we go; my hand against your eyes. 
Watch the ace! The ace is your winning card. The eight 
and ten sjiot win for me. Here is the ace, the winning card 
(turning it face up occasionally). Watch it close ! I have two 
chances to your one unless you watch the ace. Now, then, 
I'll bet any man twenty dollars, as they lie, that he can't pick 
up the ace, and I'll not touch the cards again. Will you go 
twenty dollai-s on it, sir ? " 

As he says this, he turns his head away, and addresses a man 



A "gudgeon." 93 

at his left — a conservative-looking neatly-dressed man, whom I 
should take for a merchant. But while his head is turned, a 
roughly-dressed, horny-handed miner by my side snatciies over 
the nearest card, satisfies himself that it is the ace, and makes a 
faint pencil-mark on the back of it before the dealer can turn 
around. Then the miner becomes all at once anxious to bet; 
puts up all the money he has — $20 — is anxious for some one to 
go in with him ; then puts down a watch and revolver, valued 
at $20 each. The dealer covers the pile, the miner turns the 
ace, and walks off with a gain of $60. There is a sensation 
around the board. Old plainsmen look at each other with a 
peculiar smile which may mean anything, but others get inter- 
ested. The dealer curses his bad luck, and continues to throw 
the cards, and now the pencil-mark seems plain on the back of 
the ace. As soon as the cards are laid down a young fellow of 
nineteen or twenty, who came on the same train with me from 
Omaha, hastily produces a ten-dollar note, and offers to bet. 
" Ten dollars is no money to me, sir," says the dealer; " I've 
lost too much to fool with small bets; I'll make or break 
to-night. I propose to bet forty dollars on this turn." 

The boy has no more money, but produces a pistol, which i.s 
counted at ten dollars. 

" I'll go halvers with him," shouts the conservative-looking 
chap at the corner of the table, and lays down the twenty dollars. 
The boy eagerly seizes the pencil-marked card, turns it, and, 
to his horror and amazement, it is not the ace, but the ten-spot ! 
I see the boy turning pale, for, as I happen to knov.', it is his 
last ten dollars, while the dealer rakes in his pile and goes on 
with his harangue. Not a smile, not a chuckle, not a single ex- 
pression of triumph appears; he has had a simple business 
transaction, and rakes in the money, coolly, quietly, the same 
affable, conversable, stony-eyed gentleman. The game is now 
plain. The horny-handed miner, and the dapper, conservative 
looking gentleman, are "caj)pers;" thoy have borne their part 
in the game, and " hooked a gudgeon," and carelessly stray off 
to some other table to repeat the operation. The charm is 
broken; the little circle about the moute table take the alarm 



94 "the hazard of a die." 

and begin to scatter, and we walk down to the " chuck-a-luck " 
board. Here a smooth oil-cloth is divided evenly into squares, 
numbered from six to thirty-six. On two-thirds of the numbers 
are some articles of value, the rest are blanks. On No. 36 is a 
gold watch and chain, value $300, and it is not a sham either, 
and on No. 6 is a $100 greenback. 

On numbers 7, 8 and 9, and 33, 34 and 35, are articles of 
considerable value, none less than $50, while the remaining 
numbers are blanks, or covered with some article of trifling 
value. Half a dollar is the charge for a throw. The cup con- 
tains six dice. If you throw all ones you add up six, and get 
the hundred dollars ; if all sixes you add up thirty -six, and get 
the watch and chain, and the dealer will soon show you how you 
can ruin the bank, and most learnedly explains how you have 
just one chance in thirty of getting the watch and chain, and 
the same of getting the greenback. But you will see that your- 
self There are but thirty squares — six to thirty-six — and, of 
course, you stand as good a chance to hit one as another. Do 
you, though ? Try it and see. If you don't throw somewhere 
between twelve and twenty-five for ninety-nine times out of a 
hundred, it will be a new fact in physics. And on just those 
numbers from twelve to twenty-five are all blanks or trifling 
articles. Of course you do not see this by first glance at the 
cloth, for the numbers do not run in regular order, but in such 
ingenious irregularity that prizes and blanks all seem in undis- 
tinguishable order, side by side. The dice are not loaded either. 
You may use your own if you wish, and the result is the same ; 
and if you have any curiosity about it, reader, just try it with 
six dice on your own table, keep a record of your throws, and 
see how seldom you will reach very high or very low numbers. 
And having tried it thoroughly for two or three hundred throws, 
a moment's reflection will convince you that it would be little 
short of a miracle for a man to throw all sixes or all ones with 
dice not loaded. Then take your thirty numbers and make 
your calculation from the table laid down in the " theory of 
probabilities," and you will find there is just one chance in 
990,000 that you will throw the highest or lowest number. In 



MORAL : don't. 95 

other words, you stand fair to get the watch after nine hundred 
and ninety thousand throws at half a dollar a throw ! Rather 
an expensive watch. Guess we wont invest. But while we 
stand here philosophizing, the crowd is pressing to a long table 
at one side where an airish youth is shouting at the top of his 
voice, " Come down here now, you rondo coolo sports, and give 
us a bet." 

This game, like keno, has less of the "cutthroat" about it 
than the others. There is a per cent., small but regular, in 
favor of the dealer ; every thing is carried by an exact rule, and 
the cai'eful player can calculate just what his chance is. But if 
any man imagines there is the least measure of fairness in ordi- 
nary gambling, let him dismiss the thought. I have watched 
hundreds of games, and never saw a man gain a large sum with- 
out learning, sooner or later, that he was a " capper." The evening 
wears along, many visitors begin to leave, the games languish, 
and a diversion is needed. The band gives a few lively touches, 
and a young man with a capacious chest and a great deal of 
"openness" to his face, mounts the stand and sings a v'ariety 
of sentimental and popular songs, ending with a regular rouser, 
in the chorus of which he constantly reiterates — in other words 
however — that he is a bovine youth with a vitreous optic 
" which nobody can deny." As he wears a revolver and bowie- 
knife in plain view, nobody seems inclined to deny it. A lively 
dance follows, the crowd is enlivened, and gambling goes on 
with renewed vigor. 




CHAPTER V. 

ON A MULE. 

A new profession — Off for Salt Lake City — A Mormon outfit — Nature of the over- 
land freight — Its extent — Great expenses and enormous profits — Luxury of 
miners and mountaineers — Changed to the railroad — " Kiting tpwns " — Jonah's 
gourd — Benton a year afterwards — Platte City — Our company — Mulewhacker's 
Theology — Pleasant gossip on polygamy — Journal of the route — Horrors of 
Bitter Creek — Heat, cold, thirst, dust, fatigue — Green Paver — Bridger Plains — 
Echo Canon — Weber Canon — Parley's Park — Down Parley's Canon — Salt Lake 
Valley and City. 

ATE : August 14th, 1868. Place : Benton, Wyoming. 
Scene : The writer in the rear apartment of a tent, post- 
ing his books. Results : Cash on hand $8.65; Resources 
none; Friends distant. Moral : Something must be done. 
Tlius may be summarized the result of a day's hard 
thinking. I had got thus far, more by good luck than good man- 
agement; was wonderfully improved in health, and eager to goon. 
But when I resolved myself into a committee of one on the ways 
and means, the committee was obliged to rise and report the mat- 
ter back without a resolution. I had written six letters to the 
Commercial, but did not know whether any liad been accepted, and 
was not well enough acquainted to ask a remittance ; and there 
was absolutely nothing for me to do at Benton. 

One resource remained. Teamsters were in demand, and I 
thouo-ht I knew something about mules. Under ordinarv cir- 
curastances I should have shrunk from boasting myself skilful 
enough to drive them, but these were extraordinary circumstan- 
ces, and as the Turks say to justify the use of wine, "Desperate 
diseases require desperate remedies." The resolution passed, 
with an emergency clause, and I started to hunt a job. 

A Mormon train was to start next day, and just one man 
96 



98 LUXURIOUS MINERS. 

"svas needed. The outfit consisted often "prairie soliooners " 
with six mules to each, the proj)erty of Naisbitt and Hindlev — 
then a j)rosperous Mormon firm in Salt Lake City. Our 
"wagon-boss," absolute monarch of a train while on the road, 
rejoiced in the name of John Monkins, a Mormon saint in good 
and regular standing. Seven of the drivers were Mormons, 
but the "night-herder," Billy Keyes, and two other drivers 
Charley Robinson and " Big Frank," were Gentiles, with whom 
I fraternized readily. Our load was "packed," and about noon 
of the 15th, we took to the road, the writer seated on his "nigh- 
wheeler," and wielding a "big-bellied blacksnake" over the 
backs of six mules. 

Freighting across the plains, wdiichhad grown in the past 
ten years to an immense business, Avas now being rapidly less- 
ened by the railroad. From 1860 to 1869 there were in Utah, 
Nevada, Idaho, Montana and Colorado, two hundred thousand 
people to be supplied; and every pound of groceries, manufac- 
tured goods, foreign products, mining tools and the like, had to 
be hauled from six to sixteen hundred miles across the uninhabited 
regions which lay between the Missouri and the gold mines. 
The original price, of course, was a trifle; the freight, which 
ranged from fifteen to forty cents a pound, was the chief item 
of cost. Hence the a])parent paradox, that the difference between 
first and second rate articles was comparatively much less than 
in the East. Hence again, the fact that when the miner or 
mountaineer used foreign luxuries at all, he used only the best 
quality; for the freight was no more on that than the worst. 
The difference between crushed white sugar at twenty cents, and 
common brown at ten, was all important to the Eastern family ; 
but when one added thirty cents a pound for freight, and a hun- 
dred per cent, for dealer's profit, the difference was not wortli 
calculating about away up in Montana. Business men neces- 
sarily invested large capital, and took big risks, and so indemni- 
fied themselves with enormous profits. The best was chcaj)cr 
than the second best. Hence also, an aj)parent extravagance in 
Jiving, of which the effects show to-day in Rocky Mountain 
communities. 



MOVING REAL ESTATE. 99 

Tliis overland trade successively built up Independence, 
Westjwrt, Kansas City, Atchison, Leavenworth, St. Josejjh and 
Omaha; but when two or three hundred miles of the railroad 
Avcre completed, it took that route. Hence those "roaring- 
towns," at the successive termini, which sprang up like Jonah's 
gourd, and withered away with few exceptions almost as sud- 
denly, when Government had accepted another hundred miles 
of the road, and a new terminus was located. To look on Ben- 
ton, a motley collection of log and canvass tents, one wouhl have 
sworn there was no trade; but in those canvass tents immense 
sums changed hands. E. Block & Co., Wholesale Dealers in 
Liquors and Tobacco, M'ith whom I lodged in Benton, in a 
frame and canvass tent, twenty by forty feet in extent, did a 
business ot $30,000 a month. Others did far better. Ten 
months afterwards, I revisited the site. There was not a house 
or tent to be seen; a few rock piles and half destroyed chimneys 
barely sufficed to mark the ruins; the white dust had covered 
everything else, and desolation reigned supreme. 

Transactions in real estate in all these towns were, of course, 
most uncertain ; and everytliing that looked solid was a sham. 
Red brick fronts, brown stone fronts, and stuccoed walls, were 
found to have been made to order in Chicago and shipped in 
(pine) sections. Ready made houses were finally sent out in 
lots, boxed, marked, and numbered ; half a dozen men could 
erect a block in a day, and two boys with screw-drivers i)ut up 
a "habitable dwelling" in three hours. A very good gray- 
stone stucco front, with plain sides, twenty by forty tent, could 
be had for $300; and if your business happened to desert you, 
or the town moved on, you oidy had to take your store to 
pieces, ship it on a platform car to the next city, and set u[) 
again. There was a pleasing versatility of talent in the popula- 
tion of such towns. 

An army officer told me that he went up the Platte Valley 
late in 1866 and observed a piece of rising ground near the 
junction of the two streams, where for miles not a live siirub 
or blade of grass was to be seen. Six months after he returned 
and the "Great and Growing City of the Platte" covered the 



100 MOVING A CITY. 

site; three thousand people mjule the desert hum with business 
and pleasure; there were fine hotels, elegant restaurants, and 
billiard halls and saloons, while a hundred nierehantsjostled each 
other through banks and insurance offices. All the machinery 
of society was in easy operation ; there were two daily papers, a 
jSIavor and Common Council, an aristocracy and a common 
])eople, with old settlers, new comers, and first families. Six 
months after he returned and hunted for the site. A few piles 
of straw and brick, with debris of oyster cans nearly c,Qvered by 
the shifting sands, alone enabled him to find it. The " city " 
had got up and emigrated to the next terminus. 

Our trip was one of unusual hardship, mingled with much 
that was novel and amusing. For three hundred miles west of 
Medicine Bow the country is the real "American Desert." The 
surface seems hard enough at first view, but a little travel soon 
works it up into a fine ])0wder ; and standing on a little knoll 
one can see for twenty miles the white clouds of rolling dust 
which mark the course of teams, and an approaching " bull- 
M'hacker" looks at a little distance like an animated flour sack, 
or the disembodied spirit of Metamora. Our little party of 
sixteen (four passengers), fraternized much more readily than 
one could have expected from such a motley crew. On the 
plains mutual dependence calls for mutual help, and mutual 
help softens religious and national asperities. We had both. 
The Mormons were half English and half natives; the Gentiles 
half Northern and half Southern. Religiously the Gentiles 
were in the minority, but did the most talking. The native 
Mormon boys, who had never been east of Benton, were full 
of curiosity about the States. From the general tone of Mor- 
mon sermons, they had imbibed the notion that outside of 
Utah the world was given over to fraud and lasciviousness, and 
sold wholly to Satan. That a majority, or anything like a 
"working minority" of the American people were honest and 
virtuous, was something they were slow to believe; and that 
there were rural districts often thousaiMl people wliere grogshops 
• were unknown and a lewd woman a rarity, was nothing short 
of a " monstrous Gentile lie" to their minds. That all govern- 



A mule\vmacki:rs debate. 



101 



\ 




KIGHT-SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY. 



ments but tlieir own, and all people but themselves are going; 
straight to the Devil, and that by the fastest route, is a fixed 
fact to orthodox Mormons; and these lads had grown up in 
such an atmosphere of self-suflRciency and spiritual ])ride, that 
the mere assertion that the Mormons were not the best people 
in the world struck them. as a blasphemous absurdity. And 
yet they sometimes felt, instinctively, I suppose, that some- 
thing was wrong; and that i)olygamy at any rate needed apolo- 
gizing for. 

Toiling wearily across the plains of Bridger, one day, walk- 
\ng beside our teams^ the one next me who, at the early age of 



102 



POLEMICAL TEAMSTERS. 



twenty-two was already an elder, delivered an exhaustive argu- 
ment in regard to the finding of the " golden plates" hy Joe 
Smith, to which I promptly made replv : 

''Don't believe it. No proof." 

"Do yoti believe Moses got stone tables from the Lord?" 
asked the young elder. (Exeuse the contradiction between ad- 
jective and noun.) 

''Yes." 

" Where's yotn- proof?" 

This struck me as the nearest to a "clincher" of all I had heard, 
and I launched into an elaborate argument on the history of 
tlie Bible, internal proofs, analysis of its principles and the 
like; but it was all Greek to him. And so such arguments 
nuist always be to such as fill the Mormon Church. Truly, says 
Eggleston : "No man ever embraced religious error, from 
Gnosticism to Mormonism, without a previous mental training 
to fit him for it;" and he might have added, a previous want 
of training generally predisposes a man to coarse and sensual 
beliefs. Reason appears to be wasted on those sects who have 
just knowledge enough to read the Bible and interpret it lite- 
rally, without enough to realize that certain principles of natural 
equity must always remain true, no matter what the Bible niav 
appear to say on the subject. Such did not reason themselves 
info their errors, and of course, cannot be reasoned out. And 
so our Mormon companions always thought they had the "best 
of the argument." 

Fanatics always do have the "best of the argument" — in 
their own conceit. For they can understand their own reason- 
ing, and cannot understand that of an intelligent opponent. 
In Utah one continually hears such statements as this: "AVhy 
don't they answer our arguments? They can't." One can go 
into any lunatic asylum in the land, and find a score of men 
■whose arguments he cannot answer — to their satisfaction. 

There is a fish called the mullet-head, that cannot be in- 
toxicated bv anv amount of liquor. It can even swim in that 
fluid. Reason wliv : it has no brains, conseqnentlv nothing for 
the alcohol to act upon. In like manner some sects are invinci- 
ble in argument. 



r.O:»IANCE OF rOLYGAJIY. 103 

But we Imd one young saint not at all troubled with rever- 
ence for the dignitaries, who i)rofessed to give us a revelation of 
the home life of all the Latter-day Prophets. He told us that 
Brighani, when in his prime, habitually fell in love every 
S})ring and fall. Botauically speaking, his affection was a sort 
of flowering annual, clinging to new supports each time. Also 
tliat he then kept a registry, ruled for two hundred schedules, 
specifying name and style, which he called every Saturday 
night to see that none were lost, strayed, or stolen. Our boy 
ran over the list thus : '* Black-eyed Sally, Red-headed Milly, 
Carroty Jane, Sally No. 2," etc., etc. 

But of all his heroes it appeared to me that Apostle Sammy 
Richards 'truly had, as our companion expressed it, " the softest 
layout in the business." He had seven M'ives, and spent one 
day in the week with each. His office kept liim comfortably 
supplied with clothing, and each wife would exert herself to 
set lier best table when he came around ; she would be all 
smiles and favors to win as much of the dear man's love as 
possible, and thus Sammy's existence Mas a perpetual round of 
courtship. 

With such domestic romance, varied by song and story, we 
amused the evening hours, while the two cooks "slung up slaj)- 
jacks" to the extent of two or three bushels; for supper was 
our only full meal, and we had it hard enough during the day. 

The first night we formed corral at Rawlins' Springs, only 
fourteen miles from Benton. 

Here are three large springs rising within a few feet of each 
other, one pure water, another charged with soda, and the third 
with sulphur. Next day we left the railroad line and made a 
toilsome journey straight south over the hills, to reach the old 
stage road ; but having two wagons mired in an alkali marsh, 
made but eight miles, and formed corral in a singular mountain- 
walled basin known as " Dug Springs." In the centre was an 
alkali lake of several acres, which, moved by the evening breeze, 
looked like foaming soajjsuds ; but on its margin was a spring 
of pure sweet water. The grass around the lake was of the 
l)urest white, coated with alkali to the appearance of fancy frost- 



104 THE SORKOWFUL WAY. 

work ; but near the raoimtains we found good bunch grass for 
our stock. For a few days our avei-age elevation was 7000 feet 
above sea-level, and the nights were extremely cold. On the 
22nd we reached Bridger's Pass, and next day entered on the 
Bitter Creek region — horror of overland teamsters — where all 
})ossible ills of western travel are united. At daybreak we rose, 
stiff with cold, to catch the only temperate hour thei'e was for 
driving. But by nine A. M. the heat was most exhausting. The 
road was worked up into a bed of blinding white dust by the 
laborers on tlie railroad grade, and a gray mist of ash and earthy 
j)owder hung over the valley, which obscured the sun, but did 
not lessen its heat. At intervals tiie " Twenty-mile Desert," 
the "Red Sand Desert," and the "White Desert" crossed our 
way, presenting beds of sand and soda, through which the half 
choked men and animals toiled and struggled, in a dry air and 
under a scorching sky. In vain the yells and curses of the 
teamsters doubled and redoubled, blasphemies that one might 
expect to inspire a mule Avith diabolical strength ; in vain the 
fearful " black-snake " curled and popped over the animals' 
backs, sometimes gashing the skin, and sometimes raising welts 
the size of one's finger. For a few rods they would struggle on, 
drairo-in^r the heavy load throua-h the cloo:ging banks, and then 
stop exhausted, sinking to their knees in the hot and ashy heaps. 
Then two of us would unite our teams and, with the help of 
all the rest, drag through to the next solid piece of ground, 
^vhere for a few hundred yards the wind had removed the loose 
sand and soda, and left bare the flinty and gravelly subsoil. 
Thus, by most exhausting labor, we accomplished ten or twelve 
miles a day. Half an hour or more of temperate coolness then 
gave lis respite till soon after smidown, when the cold wind 
came down, as if in heavy volinnes, from the snowy range, and 
tropic heat was succeeded by arctic cold with amazing sudden- 
ness. On the 27th of August, one of my mules twice fell ex- 
hausted with the heat; that night ice formed in our buckets as 
thick as a pane of glass. 

We turned northward from Bitter Creek before reaching the 
present railroad crossing at Green River, and on the morning 









SCENE IN ECHO CANON. 



105 



J 0(3 M()::mo\ settlements, 

of August 28tli, forded tlie latter stream twenty miles above 
the main road. Thence we again turned southwest, traversing 
the ])lains of Bridger, and entering again on the stage road 
near Bear River. The whole region appears to my eye totally 
barren, hut among the foothills, and in a few of the gulches, 
we found enough of the yellow bunch-grass for our animals, 
and sage-brush for our fires. The nights Avere still cold, but 
not so much so as east of Green River; and some stimulating 
j)ropei'h- in the atmosphere enabled me to get along with half 
the usual amount of sleep. We slept upon the ground under 
the wagons, generally with a thickness of gunnysacks under us, 
joining blankets two and two; for though the ground was dry 
as a featherbed, our sleeping apartment was rather open at the 
sides and extensively ventilated. My bed-fellow was a lank 
Mormon with about as much bodily warmth as a dried corn- 
stalk, nevertheless he used to com])lain that I ''snugged up" al- 
to'>-ether too much, and by morning usually had him jammed 
tight against the hind wdieel. 

At noon of September 4th, we entered the head of Echo 
Caiion, by way of the round valley below Cache Cave, a beau- 
tiful and romantic place. Two days we consumed in the joiu-ney 
down P^cho, sometimes down almost in' the bed of the stream, 
and sometimes hundreds of feet up the rocky sides, where the 
road wound in and out on the face of the projecting ridges. 
Gangs of Mormon laborers were scattered along the canon, con- 
structing the grade for the railroad, on Brigham Young's con- 
tract. At noon of the 6th, we emerged into Weber Canon, and 
turned southward on the old stage road. There we found nu- 
merous Mormon settlements, and the first stone-built houses and 
irrowiu"- crops I had seen for five hundred miles. The dwel- 
lini^s would have a[)peared poor and mean indeed in the States, 
but to us, just from the hot and barren plains, the valley seemed 
like a section of paradise. Next night we formed corral near 
Bill Kimball's hotel, in Parley Park, a round green valley al- 
most on top of the Wasatch Mountains; and on the 8th com- 
plctetl half the ])assage down the wild and ragged gorge known 
as Parley's Canon. 



BEARING "ZIOX. 



107 



Late afternoon on tlic 9th Ave emerged from Parley's C'nruTii 
upon the "Eastern Bench," and saw the great valley of the Jor- 
dan and Salt Lake spreading seventy miles to the northwest. 
Twenty miles west the Oqnirph Range glowed in the clear aii-, 
a shining mass of bine and wliite; Great Salt Lake extended 
far as the eye could reach to the northward, its surface level as 
in a dead calm, and glistening in the light of the declining sun, 
while to our right tiie "City of the Saints" as yet appeared 
but a white spot on the view. A few miles to our left the 
Canon of the Jordan seemed to close, giving the impression 
that that stream poured down from the hills; and down the 
centre of the valley the river and bordering marshes extended 
like bands of silver. 

We were nearing " Zion " at last, and Mormon and Gentile 
were equally delighted that the long drive of four hun<lre<l 
miles was soon to end. Darkness overtook us four miles out, 
and we formed corral for the last time on the level near the 
" Surjar House." 




RATHER OPEX AT THE SIDES." 



CHAPTER VI 



A YEAR IN UTAH. 




Discharging freight — "Beautiful Zion"— First impressions — "Our Bishop" — 
Arguments (?) for polygamy — Rough on Rome — Mormon Worthies — Jews, Gen- 
tiles, and Apostates — Queer condition of American citizens — " Millennial Star " 
and " Book of Mormon " — The original carpet-baggers — " Jaredites " — Mormon 
sermons — Into the country — A polemic race — Mormon conference — " Xo ti'ade 
with Gentiles " — A hard winter — I become a Gentile editor — Founding of Co- 
rinne — Glowing anticipations — " The Chicago of the Rocky Mountains " — Ups 
and downs of real estate — The Author comes to grief. 



jE entered the city September ]Oth, and even now my 
arms iiclie at recollection of the day, and our eight 
houis' work of unloading. For overland transporta- 
tion goods were tightly packed in huge bales, heavy 
and unwieldv ; and furthermore, most of our load con- 
sisted of stoves and castings. To lift against an average " mule- 
wliacker " on such freight was no joke to a man of my calibre, 
and aching in every lind) I sought a " Teamster's Home" at 
dark, and lay down to a heavy sleep of ten hours. 

I awoke to a revelation of beauty. *' Zion " then seemed to 
me indeed the joy of the whole earth. The bright sunlight, 
streaming through the rugged gaps of the Wasatch, cast a flood 
of glory i\[)on the city, and showed the plat marked out like a 
checker-board, and streams clear as crystal lacing all the squares 
with flowing borders. I thought it the most beautiful place I 
had ever seen. And failing to note that nearly all this beauty 
was of nature's making, it appeared to me that they could not 
be a bad people who occupied such a place; I was ])repared 
beforehand to like them. 

It was a nice place to rest, and I concluded to stay two weeks. 
The city had a singularly quiet Sabbath-like air, and the people 
108 



PI.URALITY, 



109 





SALT LAKE CITY (FROM THE NORTH). 



still more so; they were demure, subdued in demeanor, and did 
not look as if they could ever be excited. They were the last 
people I should have suspected of fanaticism. I called first 
upon "our Bishop," for so even the Gentiles then spoke of the 
})residing bishop of the Ward. Without waiting for a banter 
he entered at once upon a wordy defense, eulogy rather, of Mor- 
monism and " plurality "—Mormon euphemism for polygamv. 
A rose by any other name apparently would not smell as sweet 
in Utah. 

And such an argument: " Plurality was the original order 
of marriage established by God. Laws against it were all of 
man's device, and first set up by Rome. It was because that 
city was settled by robbers and runaways, and of course they 
had very few women. Women were so scarce that a law was 
made that no man should have more than one, and that was the 
origin of monogamy, and the first law ever made against the 
Celestial Order of Marriage. The Church of Rome took that 



110 



GENTILE LIES. 







OKSON PRATT, ONE OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 



law from Heatlien RoJiie, and the sects of the day, which are 
Rome's daughters, took the law from Catholic Rome. But all 
the churches established byGod have always practised plurality." 

Before the enunciation of su(di history (?) as this one can only 
gaj)e and remain silent. But after a breathing spell I endea- 
vored to quote authorities to the effect that Greece was mono- 
gamic centuries before Rome was founded ; but the bishop 
promptly squelched me: ^ 

"Them histories is nothing but Gentile lies, and the writers 
priests and tools of Rome. In fact there is no real history come 
down from the time when Rome ruled — all fixed up lies to 
jnstifv the Pope, and all the sects of the day wont publish 
nothing but what suits their creed." This summary suppression 
of history of course ended the argument. But the zealous 
bishop, warmed by his triumj)h, enlarged on the subject: 

'' There's no priest or preacher among the sects that's really 
authorized to solemnize a marriage — none outside of the Latter- 
day Saints. Where's your preac^her's authority ? Can you 
trace it back to anything? No man's a right to administer the 



NOTABLES OF SALT LAKE CITY. 



Ill 




GEORGE A. SMITH. 



Gospel ordinances unless he's specially sent. You've six hun- 
dred and sixty-six se(!ts — now, they can't all be right. Which 
one of them can show credentials? They've all gone astray; 
with the form of godliness but denying the power. There was 
no prophet or authorized teacher on earth for eighteen centuries. 
But Joseph Smith was called to re-establish the true i)riesthood. 
Alexander Campbell was a sort of fore-runner — like John, the 
Baptist, before Christ. But he had only a glimmering of the 
truth," — and so on, ad nauseam. Is it worth one's while to 
argue witli men who are in such an intellectual muddle? 

I called on various other worthies. First on Oi'son Pratt, 
whom I found deep in an astronomical work, and not inclined 
fo talk ; also on George A. Smith, President's Councilor, Elder, 
Historian, etc., a round, fat and unctuous man with a pig-fye 
and soap fat chin, and on his colleague Daniel H. Wells, Mayor, 
Second Councilor and Lieutenant General — a gaunt and angular 
Saint, whose face and head bore involuntary witness to the truth 
of Darwinism. Also on Hon, W. H. Hooper, a slim and ner- 
vous Saint, monogamous Delegate to Congress from this poly- 



112 MORMON LITERATURE. 

gainous T(M'ritory ; and T. B. H. Stenhonse, editor of a secular 
paper, the Daihj Telegraph, who seemed to be a sort of giieriUa 
captain in tiiechiircli militant, in no particular hurry to join the 
church triumphant, and quite indifferent as to Avhether I favored 
Mormonism or not. Pie treated me most courteously as a 
brother of the quill, and as I listened to his jolly tones, I little 
thought we were soon to become such savage opponents — on 
pajjcr. 

The Gentiles I found non-committal. They did not know 
exactly what was about to happen. They numbered but six or 
citrht hundred in a community of fifteen thousand INIormons, 
surrounded by sixty or seventy tiiousand more; and the heads 
of the church were even then concerting measures to deprive 
them of their trade. They consisted, in nearly equal numbers, 
of Jews, Ciiristians, and apostates, all in the same society, and 
supporting the same school and church. The joi^e about Utah 
belu"- tiie only place where Jews are Gentiles, is an uncommonly 
good one, it has the merit of a fine old age. But it is true in 
more senses than is generally imagined ; the Jews in Utah are 
the most intensely American, and opposed to polygamy of any 
part of the pojjulation. 

At odd hours I read the MiUennial Star and " Book of INIor- 
mon,"the last the Old Testament of the Latter-day Saints. I read 
how Lemuel, Lehi, Nephi and other Israelites, being warned 
of God in a dream, left Jerusalem six hundred years before 
Christ ; traveled eastward many years till they reached the sea, 
then made a wonderful vessel, and crossed it ; landing in Central 
America, called in the record the " Land of Promise." And 
then is recorded a real miracle: "And we did find in the forests 
all manner of animals both wild and tame, both the horse and 
the ass, and the sheep and th^ ox." They found the horse 
two thousand years before the Spaniards introduced him here, 
and the a'^s, which naturalists have always told us was not 
native to this country. 

Thev si)read over America in a few generations, finding in 
many places the remains of the "Jaredites" — a colony which 
had come immediately after the dispersion from Babel ; and by 



QUEER EMIGRATION. 113 

revelation learned that they had been "destroyed for their ex- 
ceeding great wickedness," which matters fill the '' Book of 
Jared," and two or three others. And here comes in another 
miracle. Tiiese people crossed the ocean in " whale-like barges," 
made by direction of the Lord, "with holes above and below," 
under these lucid instructions : If they needed air and light, they 
were to open the holes above and below (!), and if the water 
came in they were to shut them again. The only possible con- 
clusion from the cumbrous sentences is, that the barges rolled 
over and over like tubs, which must have made it uncomfortable 
for the Jared ites. 

Then the various divisions of the transplanted Hebrews got 
to fighting among themselves, and fought till only two of the 
"righteous race" were left, viz: Mormon and Moroni. They 
two, about 400 b. c, collected all the histories of those who had 
preceded them, and added a book apiece, and most curious of 
all, we are told it was written in " Reformed Egyptian, which 
is of the language of the Jews and the writing of the Egyptians," 
though why the mischief these Israelites, who had been iu 
America for a thousand years, should give up their own lan- 
guage and adopt that of the Egyptians, is enough to puzzle 
philologists. 

Sunday came, and six or seven thousand people attended ser- 
vices in the huge Tabernacle — irreverently styled by Gentiles 
the " Mud-turtle " — and I among them. In the afternoon we 
listened to Orson Pratt, who gave the ])eople to understand that 
the city of the Saints was a most glorious spot, but back in 
Missouri was a blessed and chosen spot where they would all be 
glorified and live a thousand years in happiness. But just be- 
fore that time fury would be poured out on the Gentile world, 
and all that were to come would have to make tracks to get in 
on time. He would meet them all there ; yes, and the fishes oi" 
the sea, and the fowls of the air, and every kind of cattle they 
needed. In short, he gave them to understand that they were 
bully boys, and their goose would finally hang high in spite of 
outside pressure. And the audience sat almost breathless, with 



114 NORTHERN UTAH. 

open eyes and mouth, and swallowed it all down, even as soap 
suds run into a sink hole. 

Utah in my original plan was only to be one of several stop- 
ping places on my way to Calitbrnia. I expected to take a 
short rest, find another team going out with produce from the 
fall crop, to drive to Austin, Nevada, and thence work my way 
on to the Pacific. Nothing was farther from my thoughts than 
to subside into a " Gentile," one of that hated minority, who, 
until quite lately, lived in Utali upon a sort of uncertain suffer- 
ance. Yet I did become a Gentile, and a somewhat noted 
and slightly "persecuted " one too, for awhile; and on this 
wise. 

Finding no teams ready to start westward, I determined upon 
a trip to the northern part of the Territory. I traveled afoot 
and by easy stages nearly to the Idaho line, purposing a visit to 
Soda Springs ; then got tired, and slowly retraced my steps, 
finding abundant enjoyment in noting the manners and customs 
of the rural Saints. 

Near Ogden I found an old Dane living with a mother and 
two daughters as wives ; in Brigham City I saw a bishop with 
six wives, two of them his cousins and two his nieces, and a 
little farther on, visited another Dane living with three wives 
in the single room of a cabin about sixteen feet square — all of 
wliich did not strike me as exactly the highest type of domestic 
iellcity which might be hoped for as the result of two thousand 
years of Christianity and cultivation. As an old bachelor I 
had not found single blessedness the best possible condition, but 
it suited me far better than such multiple cussedness. One 
wife, I thought, would be enough for me, if she were a good one ; 
and if a bad one, why should any sane man multiply his misery? 
I found the rural Saints an exceedingly polemic race ; they were 
ready for an argument any minute. No kind of mental exercise 
is so dangerous as theological disputation, especially if a man 
knows nothing else; and the Mormons had all read the Bible, 
and were ignorant of nearly all besides. But I got interested 
in them. Their absurdly literal rendering of Scri[)ture amazed 
and amused me, and I began to study their ways with much 



GENTILE REPORTER. 115 

the same kind of interest, morbid perhaps, with which tlie 
student in anthropology would investigate a new phase of mono- 
mania. At that time I knew little of their history, or their 
more obscene and disgusting tenets, and regarded them merely 
as a curious class of fanatics, silly but harmless. So I returned 
to the city half persuaded to stop awhile in Utah. 

The October Conference of the Mormon Church was in session, 
and the people were in a white heat of hatred against the Gentile 
world. I had never seen anything like it. The leaders had 
concocted a plan for getting the entire trade of the Territory into 
a few hands, and the first move was to have the people vote en 
masse that they would not trade with Gentile merchants. Tea 
thousand people — all the New Tabernacle would hold — adopted 
this resolution without a dissenting vote! To bring them to 
the proper degree of frenzy the speakers had recited the entire 
history of the Church, Mormon version, and reopened every 
wound that the "Lord's peculiar people" had suffered for the 
past forty years ; and the result was such a condition of fanatical 
liatred against Gentiles that the timid " smelt blood in the air," 
"and began to talk of flight. But the experienced said. " There 
is no danger whatever in the city; Brigham has too much at 
stake to allow trouble here; it is only out in the canons and 
distant settlements that the Gentile may be in danger." And 
this I afterwards found to be true. 

There was a daily paper in Salt Lake City, in the Gentile 
interest, known as the Reporter. It was about a foot square, 
and contained perhaps as much reading matter as four pages of 
this volume. During the excitement over Conference and its 
decrees, I wandered into the office, and for want of something to 
do wrote a few lines of editorial. The proprietor, Mr. S. S. 
Saul, forthwith suggested to me that I try my hand as editor 
for a few weeks. The salary was to be twenty dollars per week, 
— about as good as half that amount in the States. I had sent 
East for money and got no response ; my cash on hand was 
three dollars, and I was in debt for a week's board ; it is need- 
less to add that I accepted the magnificent offer. The paper 
was enlarged a column width on each side. Mr. A. Aulbach, 



116 A FEEBLE JOURNAL. 

the foreman, was put in charge of the business; Mr. Saul went 
East to solicit advertisements, and I ran that paper to suit my- 
self for seven weeUs. Saul then returned without a dollar's 
worth of patronage. I had received a hundred and fifty dollars 
from Mr. Halstead for my first fifteen letters, I felt opulent, and 
was eager to go on to California. But almost without knowing 
it, I had slid into the position of an editor; and once there, my 
destiny was fixed. The course of the Reporter had given satis- 
faction to the Gentiles, and when I spoke of leaving, they 
hound me with these flattering words, " We can't do without 
you." 

If there ever was a more sickly childhood than that of the 
Salt Lake Reporter, I never heard of it. Established in May, 
1868, it had, when I began to edit it, just sixty-nine paying sub- 
scribers. When Saul returned from the East we had increased 
the number two hundred. Saul was cast down ; Aulbach and 
I were confident. We reasoned after the foolishly sanguine 
manner of newspaper men, that if we could do so well for 
another, we could do ten times as well for ourselves — a com- 
mon conclusion with hopeful youth, and one which is not 
necessarily correct. Saul surrendered the entire office to Gene- 
ral P. E. Connor, of whom he had bought it ; and we — A. Aul- 
bach, John Barrett, and myself — purchased it. The price was 
$2500, to be paid at the rate of $300 a month. By the most 
heroic exertions we raised the first payment of $100 each; the 
second was paid, I believe, some three months after. Eight 
months from the day of sale the General was pressing us, for 
the third instalment, six months over due; but you cannot 
"draw blood out of a turnip," and he never did get his money 
till both my partners had sold out to a man of some wealth. 

I was fixed as Gentile editor in Salt Lake, but the Gentiles 
were in cruel straits. The decree of the Mormon Church had 
been carried out strictly, and Gentile stores were empty. It 
was amusing and j)rovoking to take a walk along Main Street 
that winter, and sej the melancholy Jews standing in the doors 
of their stores looking in vain for customers. For si*x months 
the ten Gentile firms did not sell one-twentieth the usual 



QUEER LAWS OF TRADE. 117 

amount of goods; their disgust was beyond expression, and 
tlieir curses against Brighani not loud but deep. It is indeed a 
singular fact, to the Eastern reader quite incomprehensible, (hat 
one man should be able by his simple will to corral the commerce 
of ninety-thousand people, nullify the laws of trade, reverse the 
popular current in favor of certain dealers, and completely ruin 
the business of a score of merchants ; and yet that is precisely 
what was done in Utah. There was no great violence, nothing 
that the law could take cognizance of, nothing that would make 
much of a showing before a Congressional Committee; and yet 
to the sufferers it was actual " persecution," fully as hard as any 
the Mormons have any just reason to complain of. 

One by one the Gentile merchants lost heart and emigrated. 
The leading firm was that of AValker Brothers; four gentlemen, 
now worth together probably a million dollars; born Mormons, 
but delivered early in life, by the grace of God, from the body 
of that death. They offered their immense property and stock 
at very low figures to the Mormon Co-operative Institution, 
■but being refused, enlarged their store and determined to fight 
it out on that line if it took no end of summers. For a year or 
so they sunk money, but pluck and public spirit coiiquered; 
the mining development of Utah more than doubled their 
former prosperity. They are now the merchant princes of 
Utah, investing heavily in mining enterprises, men of national 
reputation, and forward in all works to advance the liberal 
cause. 

But theirs was the only vessel that outrode the financial 
storm without serious loss; and Salt Lake City held by July, 
18G9, no more than one hundred and fifty Gentiles. The 
Mormon Hierarchy had determined to corral the trade of Utah 
by a grand co-operative scheme, for the benfit of the Church ; 
and men who can stand it to live with six or eight wives apiece 
must be credited with. some resolution. 

And here I may remark that I never was In a country where 
a little talent would sell so high as at that time in Utah. There 
were but few men of real genius on either side of the contro- 
versy; far more, of course, among the Gentiles than the Mormons. 



118 



a i^t^cT-a " 



A QUEER " MOSES 




^' -/ 



BRIGHAM YOUNG. 



The entire Church of Latter-day Saints does not contain ton 
men who would take rank as average merchants in an Eastern 
city — not one man of real commanding talent. The claims put 
forward for Brigham Young are simply silly, as the plain 
figures show. He has been at the head of tlie Church lor 
twenty-five years; it now numbers one-half the adult adher- 
ents it had when Joe Smith died. He led his people a thou- 
sand miles into the wilderness, where every acre of cultivated 
land has cost from fifty to a hundred dollars in labor, when 
two hundred thousand square miles of the richest land in the 
world were begging for inhabitants. What sort of a Moses do 
you make of such a man ? 

The apostate Mormons were often men of some genius, but it 
was all of the hair-splitting kind. They were fluent on the 
"rights of man," "liberty of intellect," "spiritual develop- 
ment," and the like; but when concerted action was required, 
tJH^y were a set of impracticables. They were beyond doubt 
the most skeptical class in the world. They had been so badly 
<lceeived once, that they regarded all religions as delusion or fraud 
— generally both. I recall one in particular, with whom I was 
intimate, who was at once the most credulous and the most skepti- 



THEATRICAL. 110 

cal of mon. He talked long and loud of liberty, equality, and 
fraternity, but cursed the administration and des])aired of repub- 
liean government; he quoted Tom Paine and Herbert Spencer 
by the hour, was poloquent on First Principles and Universal 
Law, ami argued on the Supreme Good, the origin of evil, and 
the control of passion, till he was black in the face with anger. 
He swore by woman, yet doubted her virtue; unhesitatingly 
rejected the New Testament miracles, and unhesitatingly ac- 
cepted everything published in the Banner of Light; put his 
trust in a miserable half-faith which he called Spiritual Phi- 
losophy, and believed every book but the Bible. Such were 
the materials we had with wdiicli to build up a liberal party 
in Utah. 

By the middle of the winter the Gentiles had given up the 
hope of business, and devoted themselves to amusement — prin- 
cipally dancing and the theatre. Brigham's Theatre was then 
the institution of Salt Lake; and Madam Methua Schellcr, 
John C. McCullough, George B. "Waldron and lady, and other 
"stars" gave us three months of varied entertainment — princi- 
])ally sucii pieces as the " French Spy," "Daughter of the Regi- 
ment," "Naiad Queen," and other sensational and spectacular 
dramas. Two or three times they ventured on something 
better, particularly " Romeo and Juliet," which failed of an 
audience, of course; the parquette, wdiere the Mormons sat, 
was nearly empty. 

Indeed, the idea of playing "Romeo and Juliet" before a 
Mormon audience is a self-evident absurdity. That play repre- 
sents the essential duality of true love: one man loves one 
woman, her, and her only, and swears by all creation that he 
will never love another, wdiile the audience have been taught 
all their lives that a man can love six women just alike. Single- 
ness of love they hold to be selfishness. If they could have 
six Juliets leaning half a dozen heads on as many hands out of 
six windows, all in different orders of architecture, and all the 
Juliets of different styles of beauty, and one old frog of an elder 
making love to all by turns, it would probably take. It would 
have Mormon spice in it. 



120 



FIRST CORINNETHIANS. 




'0^^]A^k& 



FIRST SETTLER AT CORINXE. 



Spring approached, and by general consent the more enter- 
prising Gentiles began to look for a new place of settlement. 
On the 25th of March, the City of Corinne was laid out at the 
railroad crossing on Bear River, some six miles north of the 
north end of the lake ; we moved the Reporter there early in 
April, and all went to work with a hurrah to make a "great 
Gentile city." 

It was a gay community. Nineteen saloons paid license for 
three months. Two dance-houses amused the elegant leisure 
of the evening hours, and the supply of "sports" was fully 
equal to the requirements of a railroad town. At one time the 
town contained eighty nymphs du pave, popularly known in 
Mountain-English as "soiled doves." Being the last railroad 
town it enjoyed "flush times" during the closing weeks of 
buildiii"- the Pacific Railway. The junction of the Union and 



COIIINNETHIAN ORATORS. 



121 




SUNDAY-NIGHT AMUSEMENTS. 



Central was then at Promontory, twenty-eight miles west, and 
Corinne was the retiring place for rest and recreation of all the 
employes. Yet it was withal a quiet and rather orderly j)lace. 
Sunday was generally observed: most of the men went hunting 
or fishing, and the "girls" had a dance, or got drunk. 

Legitimate business was good for the first two months of the 
city's existence; for the railroad was just being conrrpleted, and 
everybody supposed that the harvest of gain was about to begin. 
We had public meetings in abundance. Two or three times a 
week flaming posters called the citizens together, to consult on 
''improven^Qnts for the benefit of Corinne." Bonfires were 



122 UN-EEAL ESTATES. 

lighted, a stand improvised by turning up a dry-goods box, and 
a number of florid speeches delivered; the crowd then voted 
unanimously for various heroic resolutions, and dispersed to 
read their proceedings in the next morning's Reporter. 

Sanguine real estate owners predicted a city of ten thousand 
people witliin two years. And they believed it too. Let no 
man imagine that the citizens of new and lively w-estern towns 
are only talking to draw in outsiders; they convince themselves 
long before they try to convince others — as witness the fact 
that very few of tliera sell out when the excitement is at its 
hight. They hold on for higher prices, and ninety-nine out 
of a hundred who are rich when the city is on the rise, grow 
poor again when it goes down. Corner lots in Corinne went 
up to fabulous prices. All seemed to be satisfied that the loca- 
tion of the "Chicago of the Rocky Mountains" was definitely 
settled. And they had some ground for their belief. At the 
head of navigation on Bear River, connecting with the lake, 
and the most favorable point for shipping freight from the 
railroad into Montana and Idaho, it was reasonable to suppose 
that a large town would spring up. 

Chief among our eloquent real estate owners was Dr. O. D. 
Cass, better known as "The Doc," formerly of Denver, who 
had invested largely in Corinne; and many delightful hours 
have I spent in his office, hearing him demonstrate from the 
map the certain future greatness of Corinne. Every morning 
the Reporter contained a new and encouraging scheme to insure 
commercial importance. Here was to be an enduring city, the 
entrepot of all trade from the northern Territories; here 
was to be the " Queen City of the Great Basin." The Mormon 
papers rarely alluded to us, but their speakers denounced 
Corinne as the home of devils^ and warned their young men to 
avoid it as the place of destruction to manners and morals. 
They ransacked the Scriptures for precedents : it was too dry 
for wells, too barren for gardens ; it was to be as Tyre, desolate 
and a warning to the Gentile; it was as wicked Sodom to 
perish under Heaven's wrath ; it was INIoab, the Lord's wash- 
j)ot ; it was Edom, over which he would cast out his shoe. 



THE BUBBLE BURSTS. 



123 




FOR THE BENEFIT OF CORINNE. 



Vain denunciations, and equally vain hopes. The railroad 
was completed, and all our floating population drifted to fresh 
fields; the "dull times" of 1869 came on, and Corinne sub- 
sided to a moral and quiet burg of perhaps four hundred in- 
habitants. Better times came in 1870, and in the last two 
years, and the " Queen City " is now a thriving country village 
of j)erhaps twelve hundred people. My corner lots, which cost 
me $500, are for sale at a discount, and other real estate owners 
are in the liice case. I met "The Doc" a few weeks since on 
my last visit there. He was still social and lively; but there 
was no speculation in his eyes. 



124 CITY LOTS. 

The history of Corinne is the history of something near a 
thousand towns in tlie " glorious free and boundless AVest." 
In a new country, when the first towns are laid out, every body 
speculates, one makes money and nineteen come to grief. 

Well do I remember when, now twenty years ago, the people 
of our place in Indiana first felt the excitement about Minnesota 
as a place of settlement. Oregon and California had been "all 
the rage " for four years, and the former State was generally 
regarded as a cold, barren region, with a few Indian trading 
])osts ; and, perhai)s, some good land, but quite too far North 
for Hoosiers and Buckeyes. But about that time the tide began 
to set that way. Two young men from our town went out to 
Winona, remained a few months, and returned with fabulous 
accounts of the fertile soil, fine timber, and healthful air; "and 
as to cold," thoy added, " the ground is so dry and the winters 
so uniform, we didn't suifer half as much as in Indiana." 
Then every body wanted to go West — to Minnesota. And 
one old gentleman, noted f )r his prudence, thus pronounced : 
" Now you see, I ain't 'er goin' to be led away by any excitement 
about any one place. I've got money to invest, and I'll put in 
one whole season ridin' about, and a man can tell by the lay 
of the country where the big town's a goin' to be and there I'll 
stick my stake." And he went and rode all one summer about 
the State, and was convinced by unmistakable signs that there 
was to be one big city in the Northwest, and that was to be at 
the southern end of Lake St. Croix. All this he demonstrated 
on his return home by unanswerable arguments — on the map — 
and went out again with some ten thousand dollars and invested 
it all at Prescott — at the south end of that Lake ; and to the 
best of my knowledge and belief his lots there are worth as 
much as they were in 1854, if not more. At any rate I have 
not heard a word about Prescott — then the "great coming 
town " — for ten years past. For aught I see in the papers it, 
lilce Paddy's little brother, "died a bornin'." In like manner 
I have heard peo{)le demonstrate that Omaha and Kansas City 
could not be the big places; the true location was a few miles 
up or a few miles down the river; the site was unfortunate. 



VERY UNCERTAIN. 125 

and the other place, wliatever it was, must finally get ahead. 
But somehow tiiese "other places" seldom get ahead — if they 
lose the first two years' start. 

Moral : you can't most always tell out West where the "big 
place " is going to be, simply from the " run of the river" or " lay 
of the country." Nature only determines the treneral nei<i^hbor- 
hood — within, perhaps, fifty or a hundred miles — of cities in the 
new West; between any two sites in thesameneio-hborhood, the 
pluck and energy of the first settlers always determine the 
matter. Moral again : If you are in the biggest place, the one 
that has the start, don't be seduced away to a new place because 
it appears to have a little better site, but stay where you arc, 
even if " times are dull " just now, and ten to one the place that 
has the start will keep it. 




CHAPTEE VII. 

THE UXIOX PAC^IFIC COMPLETED. 

The last rail and spike — A visit home — An unofficial tour — "VYliitney, Benton, 
Burton, Fremont, Stansbury, Saxton, and Gunnison — Difficulties of construc- 
ture — Where is the real starting point? — Missouri Pdver Bridge — Out the 
Platte — Fremont — Columbus — On the plains again — Julesburg — Smoothness 
of the route — Delightful traveling — Clieyeune — A Western Jeffreys ! — Laramie 
again — A tragedy — A miracle, perhaps ! — "Big Ed's " guardian angel — Pyra- 
mid rocks — Beauties of Laramie Plains — Desert west of them — Wasatch — Echo 
and Weber— Promontory — Moral gamblers— Reflections. 

rd 
jN the 10th of May, 1869, I attended the ceremonies con- 
nected with laying the last rail, and driving the last 
spike, on the Pacific Railway, which events took place 
on the Promontory north of Great Salt Lake. A few 
days after I came East on the completed road, visiting 
my home after an absence of thirteen months; and then, in 
company with other correspondents, made an unofficial inspec- 
tion of the entire line for our several journals, stopping at all 
the towns along the way. Reams of paper and gallons of ink 
have since been exhausted on the great work, and still the read- 
ing public asks for more. And there is always more to be said ; 
for the ever-varying circumstances of Western life, the shifting 
phases which characterize existence beyond the Mississippi, re- 
quire a new historian every year. 

History has not decided to whom belongs the honor of ad- 
vancing the idea of a Pacific Railroad. Probably to no one 
man. The scheme was such as to suggest itself to many of our 
earlier statesmen. When Whitney proposed to build it for a 
grant of land thirty miles in width along its track, it was looked 
upon as the fancy of a monomaniac. I think myself he would 
have come out some thirty millions in debt, unless he could 
126 



PRELIMINARY SURVEYS. 127 

liave persuaded Eastern capitalists to purchase the grant between 
the Black Hills and the Sierras without visiting it. When the 
great Benton began to agitate the matter, it Mas regarded as 
premature — the harmless fancy of an old politician. And as 
late as 1856, when the National Republican Platforai contained 
a clause in favor of the work, it was regarded as a piece of 
cheap electioneering "buncombe" — rather shallow at that. 
Again, in 1860, the English traveler and scientist, Capt. R. F. 
Burton, in his "City of the Saints," says of the road: "The 
estimated expense is one hundred millions ; it would cost at least 
twice that sum ; it is expected to build it in ten years, but it 
will consume at least thirty." In nine years from that utterance 
the road was completed. 

Fremont, Stansbury, Saxton, Gunnison, and other explorers, 
seem to have been slow in convincing themselves that the road 
could be built at all. Stansbury, however, has the honor of 
being the first to demonstrate satisfactorily that there was any 
route more direct than the old emigrant trail by the Sweetwater 
River and South Pass. On his return, in 1850, from his sur- 
vey of the Great Salt Lake, he followed up the mountain pass 
directly eastward from Laramie Plains, crossed the Black Hills 
about on the present railroad line, and descended eastward to a 
point very near where the city of Cheyenne now stands, follow- 
ing down Lodgepole Creek to its junction with the Platte. 

Southern influence was all-powerful in Congress in those 
days, and was against the road. The national charter was first 
granted in July, 1862 ; the preliminary organization was com- 
pleted in October, 1863, — authorized capital, a hundred million 
dollars; and the first contract for construction was made in 
August, 1864. The first forty miles of the road were not com- 
pleted till January, 1866. Still the work languished : capita- 
lists doubted it; the government appeared indifferent; the war 
absorbed every energy of the people, and for a time the very 
idea seemed forgotten. But all that time a few bold and deter- 
mined men were working incessantly to insure its completion. 
By the war the necessity for a closer union with the Pacific 
States became more apparent, and the mighty energies evolved 



128 AT THE MISSOURI. 

by the civil strife, found their proper object in iron girding the 
continent. 

These energies were needed in view of the difficulties. 
Omaha, the initial point, was not then connected with the East 
by rail. A gap of a hundred miles or more intervened, over 
which everything had to be transported by teams. The mag- 
nificent engine of seventy-horse-power, which for a long time 
ran the company's works at Omaha, was hauled by oxen from 
Dos Moines, Iowa. Under the stimulus caused by the Union 
Pacific, three through lines have already been completed from 
Chicago to Omaha. Was the road then built too soon ? By 
no means. But the cost was undoubtedly much greater than it 
would have been at a later day. 

It is strenuously claimed by Iowa men that Omaha is nof the 
real starting point; for the plat designated by charter — the 
common junction of half a dozen roads' — is east of the Mis- 
souri, some four miles southwest of Council Bluffs. Hence a 
wordy war between the two cities, which threatened all sorts of 
terrible things, and was once of sufficient importance to get into 
Congress. Hence, also, the great Union Pacific Bridge over the 
Missouri, which completed the continuous line of rail from 
Atlantic to Pacific. 

This structure, entirely of iron, has eleven spans of two 
hundred and fifty feet each ; is fifty feet above high water 
mark, and seventy above low. The piers are formed of iron 
cylinders, filled in with boulders and concrete; the cylinders 
being merely rings, each ten feet high and nine and a half in 
diameter. In forming the pier one ring was placed upon the 
sand, tightly capped, and the air within pumped out, when the 
pressure would drive it down to the level; after which it was 
uncapped and another bolted tightly upon it, and the process 
re[)eated. The eastern pier, first completed, went down seventy- 
five feet below the surface before it rested on solid sandstone. 

On the 10th of July we left Omaha for a review of the ** first 
division" — extending in our arrangement, to Fremont, the first 
place of note, forty miles out. A year before I had entered it 
from the north, afoot, weary and disconsolate. It looked much 




129 



130 COLUMBUS, NEBRASKA. 

better wlien entered from the cars, in bodily comfort and good 
company. Fremont has "great expectations." It is the center 
of a plain of great beauty and richness, is the point of junction 
for the Sioux City branch of the Union Pacific, and has a 
population of three thousand. We are here not quite " out of 
civilization," but merely on its borders; the extremes of society 
are closely mingled, and both nature and humanity seem full of 
the spirit of border-land poetry. 

From Fremont forty-five miles of gentle up-grade — aver- 
aging throughout the Platte Valley seven feet to the mile — 
bring us to the ambitious "city" of Columbus. George F. Train 
settled in his own mind that this was the geographical center of 
the United States, though most people place that point some- 
where near Fort Riley, Kansas; consequently he pronounced it 
" the future Capital," and proceeded to buy and lay out a town 
plat. A great railroad was projected from Sioux City to this 
point, with branch straight north across the Niobrara country 
"to Yankton, Dakota, and a continuation southward through 
the valley of the Blue to connect with some of the numerous 
projected roads in Kansas. " The wind-work is all done, and 
grading will commence about September first" — the sanguine 
citizens confidently affirmed. They further assured me, seeing 
that I was a journalist, and only Avanted the exact truth to lay 
before my " numerous and intelligent readers," that Columbus 
was sure to be quite a metropolis, the great central city of this 
valley, certainly the capital of the State, and possibly of the 
Nation. And, like the hopeful builders of my own Corinne, they 
believed every word of it; town lots were at handsome 
figures and advancing, and there was speculation in the eyes 
of real estate owners. We remained a day, but did not " invest 
in lots." 

Columbus is one of the "stakes" of the " Joseph ite Mor- 
mons" — so-called by the profane, but styling themselves the 
" Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" — ■ 
and here I met Alexander and David Hyrura Smith, sons of 
the late Prophet Joseph, who were gathering the "sinews of 
war" for a raid into Utah, to wrest the kingdom from the 



BUFFALO AND EMIGRANT. 131 

usurper Brigham. They traveled with us the next stage to 
Clieyenue, and continued on to Utah. They went, they saw — 
but they did not conquer. Their appearance excited little 
enthusiasm among the saints. Fanaticism, like revolution, 
never goes backward. Keligious bubbles, like all others, 
must rise till they burst. Very few in Utah were prepared 
to leave the developed stage of Mormonism to go back to the 
original. 

Beyond Columbus there were then no " cities" for four hun- 
dred miles. Of all which sprang up on the road, only two or 
three survive in anything like their first greatness. A specula- 
tive and uncertain character attached to all of them; lots in the 
" wickedest city," Julesburg, which once sold readily, for a 
thousand dollars, are now the habitations of the owls and 
prairie dogs. But there is one lot in the deserted site of Jules- 
burg whose tenants will not remove to the new railroad town. 
I mean the cemetery, where lie the bodies of at least a hundred 
victims of midnight rows, violence and vigilantes. The town 
lasted only five months, but was quite successful in establishing 
a graveyard. 

In that neighborhood, or a little farther east, in the years 
before the railroad, two great lines of migration and emigration 
annually intersected : the first of the millions of buffaloes which 
had wintered in northwestern Texas and were thus far on their 
spring travel ; the second of the overland travelers who had 
journeyed from the Missouri, reaching this point about the 
latter part of May. From here to the foot of the mountains 
was then a great buifalo range; and it is stated that emigrants 
were hindred from crossing the Platte for several days at a 
time by the herds which were crowding to pass it. Now they 
are rarely seen here. The Indians hunt them to the south of 
Republican Fork, and the Kansas, not the Union, Pacific is 
the route on which to see buffaloes. 

One can speak in the highest terms of the smoothness and 
ease of travel on the Union Pacific — particularly on that por- 
tion in the Platte Valley. Hour after hour the traveler is 
carried rapidly along without jar or discomfort, generally free 



132 SEVERE SENTENCE. 

from dust, with sensations as agreeable as if upon rails of glass. 
On a table in the sleeping car a glass of water, filled within 
half an inch of the brim, can be carried hundreds of miles 
without spilling a drop ; and in these moving palaces all the 
parlor entertainments of books, cards, chess, and even sewing 
and writing to some extent, can be enjoyed without dis- 
comfort. 

Cheyenne stands on a beautiful plain, half encircled by the 
bend of Crow Creek ; to the west the Black Hills break the 
horizon, while Long's Peak, ninety miles to the south, and the 
Snowy summits of the Rocky Mountains show with dazzling 
brilliancy through the rarified air. The city is no longer the 
paradise of " roughs," but a quiet and orderly community. 
The political and social revolutions of its first year are worthy 
the j)en of a Macaulay. It is confidently stated by old settlers 
that Colonel Murrin, while mayor, raised the value of city- 
scrip eighteen cents on the dollar, by requiring every man who 
shot at another to pay a fine of ten dollars, " whether he hit or 
missed." But this unheard-of severity built up a powerful 
opposition, and Murrin lost his office. This genial official often 
had the "girls" before him for such trifling charges as " drunk 
and disorderly," when the following colloquy usually ensued : 
" Your fine is ten dollars and twenty-five cents." 
"Yes, y'r honor, but what's the twenty -five cents for?" 
"To buy your honorable Judge a drink in the mornin'." 
In those days Cheyenne was in the Territory of Dakota, 
Wyoming not being organized; but as it was eight hundred 
miles by the shortest route to Yankton, the new city did not 
•wait for a regular charter, but had a complete government with 
no basis but the will of the people. A year or so afterwards, 
those who had fined and imprisoned culprits, or sent them to 
work with ball and chain, became apprehensive of legal ven- 
geance, and applied to the Dakota Legislature, which legalized 
the original charter, nunc pro tunc. 

We rolled westward from Cheyenne on the 17th of July, but 
the morning was cold ; and the train crept slowly up the moun- 
tain-side enveloped in a chilly gray mist, which gave an air of 



134 BLACK HILLS. 

added desolation to the gloomy defiles of the Black Hills. The 
ascent upon the eastern side is everywhere so gradual as to be 
scarcely perceptible ; and even at Sherman, highest point on the 
road — 8342 feet above sea-level — the spectator is less conscious 
of being upon a mountain than at any other point, the high 
bare rocks, with a few green plats, spreading away to the north 
and south, giving rather the appearance of a high meadow than 
a mountain top. 

Passing the wild scenery of Granite Canon just as the fogs 
of the morning were giving way to the clear sunshine and blue 
sky of the mountains, we emerged upon the first rocky " bench," 
with a free outlook to the west, then passed Dale Creek bridge, 
at a dizzy hight over a narrow gorge, which seems to split the 
highest ridge of the mountains from north to south ; but a little 
south of the road it turns sharply to the eastward, and the 
creek canons out upon the eastern bench, and running across 
the high plains, empties into the South Platte. Thence, west- 
ward and northward, we move down the mountain, first through 
ragged gaps and rock cuts, then along embankments and rock 
flats, and then out upon the head of Little Laramie, where the 
road gets much smoother, but still bearing swiftly downward, 
till we run out upon the grassy plats and wonderful scenery of 
Laramie Plains, and stop for a few clays at the "city" of 
Laramie. 

Laid out in May, 1868, this place had an early history much 
like that of Cheyenne. But the better citizens, impatient of 
the law's delay, took the matter into their own hands, and an 
explosion of popular wrath ended in a "judicious hanging." 
•On a beautiful midnight of the next October, three notorious 
villains were seized by the Vigilantes, given a short trial, and 
at daylight of a clear Sabbath morning, "Con" Wagner, Asa 
Moore, and " Big Ed " Bernard, were hanging stiff* and cold to 
the projecting timbers of an old log-house. And then an inci- 
dent occurred which long furnished matter for surprise to the 
curious, and conjecture to the superstitious. A neighboring 
photographer, knowing that the bodies would be removed as 
soon as daylight discovered them, arranged his instruments and 



THE ANGEL IN THE CLOUD. 



135 




CHIEF JUSTICE OF WYOMING. 



waited patiently for the first light, to secure a sensational view 
of the executed. The light clouds were just scattering before 
the coming sun when he bared the sensitive plate, and turned 
it towards the bodies — in a little too great haste as it proved 
— and tlicre api)eare(l fixed upon the negative, formed by the 
parting of two clourls, an exact representation of a weeping 
ancrel over " Biir Ed's" shoulder. Her long; hair fell on each 
side of the swinging murderer ; her down-cast eyes appeared to 
rest in deep sadness on the rope encircling his neck, while two 
tear-drops trembled on her cloudy cheeks. At first view of 
the negative, preserved in memory of this curious accident, the 



136 "long STEVE." 

angel appears as a real figure in the scene; and it is not 
till one traces the joining of the clouds that he perceives the 
illusion. 

Another of the same gang, " Long Steve " Young, had been 
Avarned the previous day to leave town; but instead of doing so, 
he armed himself and swore to revenge the death of his com- 
rades. He was seized at once, given a fair trial, and at nine 
o'clock of that Sabbath morning was hanged to the telegraph 
pole at the end of the depot. At his first suspension the rope 
broke, and he fell to the ground, when an old mountaineer who 
had been garroted and robbed a few nights before, jumped upon 
him and stamped him furiously in the face. This extra horror 
was ended at once by the Vigilantes, and the prisoner hanged 
till dead. Young had been hanged twice before in Colorado, 
and cut down at the point of death. The Vigilantes wore no 
mask, and attempted no concealment ; the Deputy United States 
Marshal was the only official in the vicinity, and he had fled 
the night before, being rather more than suspected of complicity 
with the robbers. . 

Some twenty miles southwest of Laramie is a region known 
as Pyramid Rocks, well worthy a few days' visit. At a distance 
the rocks look like the ruins of an ancient city, but on near 
approacli are found to consist of clusters and columns of red 
and white sandstone, from ten to twenty feet in diameter, and 
from fifty to eighty feet in hight, worn by the ceaseless winds or 
by the waters of a geologic age till they are round and smooth 
as if polislied with the lapidary's greatest skill. The summits 
of many of the columns are crowned with a species of parachute, 
often extending fifteen feet over the edge. Where the columns 
gather in clusters, these projecting summits unite, forming a 
solid roof and appearing to one below like vast arches support- 
ing a cathedral dome. Towards the center of the largest group 
the light fades away, owls and bats peer down from numerous 
crevices upon the intruder, while still farther into the recesses 
can be heard the suppressed growl of foxes, badgers and coyotes, 
and the floor is strewn witli the bones of their prey. The great 
bald eagle has appropriated many places upon the summit for 



LARAMIE PLAINS. 



137 




PYIiAMID ROCKS, 



his eyrie, and the prairie wolf finds a retreat in the deepest cav- 
erns. At a distance one column has the exact appearance of an 
old baronial castle, and another that of a Roman arch. The 
loose sand, driven about by the wind for thousands of years, has 
worn away the softer portions, and carved a thousand gro- 
tesque faces upon the rock. Here is written as upon an open 
book, the pre- Adamite history of these rocks and plains, ihc 
erosion and drift, and then the wear of wind and sand, which 
liave made these level plains among the mountains, leaving oniy 
these solid monuments to show the lapse of years. 

These singular plains of the Big and Little Lamariearc really 
parks, quite similar in formation to those of Colorado, but of 
less elevation, being but 6500 feet above sea-level, and entirely 
surrounded by mountains, except the passes north and north- 



138 A WEARY LAND. 

\vest through which flow Laramie and Medicine Bow Rivers. 
Here tlie vegetation of the East and West mingles, and the 
larger part of these plains is covered by a mixture of buffalo 
and bunch grass, very nutritious, and already the grazing land 
of numerous stock-growers. We find uear Medicine Bow a 
number of lakes with no outlet, strongly impregnated with 
alkali, and -with borders quite barren except ^or an occa- 
sional stunted growth of sage-brush, greasewood, and desert 
cactus. 

Thence for nearly four hundred miles westward, all nature is 
a 'vveariness to the eye and a burden to the flesh — white deserts 
of alkali, bare deserts of gravel and sand, gray rock, red buttcs, 
yellow hills, dry gullies, and hot bare plains. Two or three 
green valleys appear, in which some enthusiastic settlers have 
half-persuaded themselves that they can " make a country." 
One such resident met the Honorable (and bluff) Ben. Wade, 
while the latter was on his tour inspecting the Union Pacific, 
and with a deprecating air, remarked, 

"This isn't such a bad country — all it lacks is water and 
good society." 

" Yes," retorted the Senator, with equal truth and point in 
application, " that's all that Hell lacks." The comparison nearly 
does justice to the country. 

From this region the road rises by the eastern slope of the 
Wasatch Mountains to Wasatch Station, the summit of the "Rim 
of the Great Basin," seven thousand feet above sea-level, a 
place of wild, rare beauty, and during a large part of winter, 
entirely above the clouds. I visited the place in January, 1869, 
and during my stay of a week the thermometer never rose to 
zero, ranging from three to twenty degrees below, tlu)ugh there 
was not a cloud in the sky except the light masses near the 
horizon, and the sun shone with a peculiar dazzling brilliancy. 
The air, too, was quite still, and sitting in a well-warmed frame 
tent, and looking through the windows on the yellow waxen 
sunlight, it seemed impossible that winter held such savage 
reign without, but a step into the open air soon showed the 
reality. The terminus was to remain there the rest of the win- 



PROMONTORY. 



139 



ter, four thousand men were at work on the grade and rock-cut 
within a few miles, who must do their trading there, and as by 
magic a city of fifteen hundred people sprung up in two weeks 
in the dead of winter. During my stay, the sound of hammer 
and saw was heard day and night, regardless of the cold, and 
restaurants were built and fitted up in such haste that guests 
were eating at the tables, while the carpenters were finishing the 
weather-boarding — that is, putting on the second lot to "cover 
joinings." I ate breakfast at the " California" when the cracks 
were half an inch wide between the "first siding," and the ther- 
mometer in the room stood at five below zero! A drop of the 
hottest coffee spilled upon the cloth froze in a minute, while the 
gravy was hard on the plate, and the butter frozen in spite of 
the fastest eater. 

This was another " wicked city." 
During its lively existence of three 
months it established a graveyard 
with forty-three occupants, of 
whom not one died of disease. 
Two were killed by an accident in 
the rock-cut; three got drunk, and 
froze to death ; three were hanged, 
and many killed in rows, or mur- 
dered ; one " girl " stifled herself 
with the fumes of charcoal, and 
another inhaled a sweet death in 
subtle chloroform. 

From Wasatch we pass through 
a long rock-cut and tunnel, and pulpit rock, echo canon. 
enter Echo Caiion, which leads us 

into Weber Caiion and that out to Salt Lake Valley. A hun- 
dred miles from Wasatch bring us to Promontory, for six months 
after their completion, the junction of the Union and Central 
Pacifies, the spot where, 

" Civilization shifting turns the other way," 

And the tide of progress rolling westward, was met by the 




140 GAMBLING MORALITY. 

reflux tide of Pacific " self-risers," assisted by the almond-eyed 
Mongolian. 

Here we rested for a day at the last " U. P. town " — 4900 
feet above sea-level, though, theologically speaking, if we inter- 
pret Scripture literally, it ought to have been 49,000 feet below 
that level ; for it certainly was, for its size, morally nearest to 
the infernal regions of any town on the road. In two days I 
had the pleasure (?) of seeing at least a score of "smart Alecks" 
relieved of their surplus cash by betting on the "stra}) gan^e," 
" patent lock," " ten-die game," " three-card monte " and other 
beautiful uncertainties, which are so worked as to appear " a 
dead sure thing" to the uninitiated. 

What I particularly admire in the " sports " is the fine 
morality they display in always having the loser in the wrong. 
The latter is certain he is going to cheat the gambler, otherwise 
he would never venture. He thinks the gambler ignorant of 
the fact that the card is marked, or the lock " hampered," or 
the strap changed, as the case may be, by the " capper ; " and 
goes in on what he considers a " dead sure thing." Hence I 
maintain there should be no legal action to recover money lost 
in gambling. Between the gambler and the loser the moralities 
are equal ; both are rogues at heart, only the former is the more 
expert. 

My journalistic inspection of the Union Pacific was ended, 
and on the 1st of August I stood upon the " last rail," which 
was laid three months before with such imposing ceremonies, 
and which has, in literal prose, been whittled up, carried off and 
replaced six times; so that we have had no less than seven last 
rails, and the end is not yet. Here Irish and Chinese laborer 
met in their great work, to place the last jet in the band which 
weds the Orient and Occident, and solemnize their union by 
the shores of America's Dead Sea. The scene on this burning 
August day is not provocative of sentiment; the theme is ex- 
hausted in song and story, but worthy still of extravagant 
eulogy as the great triumph of peace in this age; and as 
I gaze upon the rocky bights around, I almost fancy I can 



CREDIT MOBILIER. 141 

see the shade of Columbus, still pointing westward, still 

affirming : 

" I was right after all : 
This is the way to India." 

Note : — This chapter originally contained floridly complimentary notices of 
all the great men engaged in building the Union Pacific, but about the time it 
went to press, the Credit Mobilier investigation was in progress in Washington, 
so I thought it safest for my reputation as an author and Gentile prophet, to 
mention no names. Never praise a man, or name your children after him, till 
he ia dead. 




CHAPTER VIII. 

THE GREAT BASIN. 

Hunting new fields — Gentile needs — Mines or nothing — Southward — Sevier 
Mines— Gilmer and Saulsbury — Rockwell's Ranche — The Utah Basin — Will 
it be sacred ground? — A family ticket — Social robbery — Chicken Creek — 
" Them mules is in the sagebrush ; you go hunt 'em ! " — Gunnison — Sevier 
Valley — Abandoned towns — Marysvale — Up the Gulch — Drawbacks to the 
district— Mr. Jacob Hess — My later experience — The habitable lauds of Utah 
and Nevada — Productions — Fruits — True policy with the State and Territory — 
" Mormon enterprise " — A silver State — Sunken deserts — Death Valley — 
Mournful reminiscence. 

HE Union Pacific and overland excursion had become 
too common. Every man who could command the 
time and money was eager to make the trip, and all 
who could sling ink became correspondents. At least 
ten thousand columns had been written about the 
Mormons, and my local occupation was spoiled. The Bedouin 
instinct- stirred within me, and I longed for fresh fields and 
pastures new. 

The Gentiles in Utah were ruined in business if that business 
depended on the Mormons, and a few of us turned our eyes 
towards the hills as a last hope. We wanted to live in Utah ; 
to do so we must have a Gentile population, and the only hope 
for such a population was in developing paying mines. Trade 
with the Mormons no Gentile could count on, and in agricul- 
ture no American could go into the country and compete with 
the foreign-born Mormons, who worked little five and ten-acre 
patches, and thought themselves in affluence if they had a 
hundred dollars' worth of surplus produce. Unless Utah had 
rich mineral deposits, we might prepare to emigrate. Cotton- 
wood, Rush Valley and Sevier were spoken of — the last far in 
Southern Utah. The place was beyond the settlements, in the 
142 



PORTER ROCKWELL. 



143 




OFF FOR THE SEVIER MINES. 



edge of the Indian country, and the route thither lay through 
the dark regions of Polygamia. But the reports appeared 
favorable, and I determined to visit the district. Gilmer and 
Saulsbury, successors to Wells, Fargo & Co., ran a tri-weekly 
line to Fillmore, the old territorial capital ; and from Chicken 
Creek, north of that city, a miners' express sometimes ran to 
the Sevier region. 

The " State Koad," so-called in allusion to the proposed 
" State of Descret," runs southward up the Jordan and through 
the " Narrows," to the Utah Lake region. The last station on 
the Jordan is known as Rockwell's Ranche, having long been 
the residence of the notorious " Port " Rockwell, reputed Danite 
and undoubted desperado. Making due allowance for western 
exaggeration, enough is certainly known of his life to make it 
one of singular and horrible fascination. Most of the evidence 
I have of his life is from Mormons, but Porter himself only 
owns to having killed a dozen men, most of which cases he 
justifies, and complains of having been slandered by journalists, 
particularly Fitzhugh Ludlow. That writer visited Porter at 
his ranche, and afterwards collected his history from various 
sources, and credits (or debits) him with fifty murders, as* if all 
were proved facts. "Port "used to grit his teeth when that 



144 UTAH LAKE BASIN. 

history was mentioned, and say if he met Ludlow he would 
make it fifty-one ! "Port" disaj)peared from his usual haunts 
while Judge McKean's Federal Court was running; but when 
that condition was reversed by the Supreme Court, ho was again 
to be seen and heard in " Zion." His custom, when drunk, is 
to walk Main Street and give vent to a regular series of pro- 
lono-ed yells, which are sufficiently murderous in tone to make 
a stranger believe almost anything about him. But time would 
fail me to tell even that part of Rockwell's life which is well 
proved ; the palmy days of such men in Utah are passed, and 
the " Danite Captain's" occupation is gone. 

From Rockwell's we pass the " Point o' Mountain " and 
" Narrows," and thence down a long slope into the fine valley 
east of Utah Lake — the Galilee of modern Saints. Through 
the flourishing settlements of Lehi, Battle Creek, and American 
Fork, we pass to the city of Provo, second place in age, and 
third in size, in the Territory. The bishop of this place was 
immortalized by Artemus Ward, who tells of giving him a 
"family ticket," and after congratulating himself on the size of 
his audience, discovering that all but a dozen of them were the 
bishop's wives and children. The point of the joke is in the 
fact that, though the bishop has five wives, he has never been a 
father. 

This case illustrates the folly of polygamy, in a politico- 
economical sense, a little more clearly than most others. If the 
four superfluous wives of this potentate had each a husband, we 
might, in the course of nature, expect a score of children where 
now are none. There being one woman to one man in the 
world at large — not near so many in the Territories — and all 
men being "created free and equal," who gave one man the 
right to take five men's shares of womanly sweetness ? What 
robbery so bad as that which robs a man of any chance for a 
wife or domestic happiness? A comiminiti/ of polygamists is 
an absurdity — rather an impossibility. From the nature of the 
case, polygamists must form an exclusive aristocracy, like that 
of slaveholders. 

Night had overtaken us before passing Springville, at the 



SPECULATIONS. 



145 




ON A FAMILY TICKET. 



soutliern point of Utah Lake. The Provo, or Timpanogos, 
Spanish Fork, American Fork, and a dozen smaller streams 
feed this "Gem of the Desert," which only sends off one-third 
as much water by the Jordan as it receives from these mountain 
affluents. Some may find its way under ground, but more is 
accounted for by evaporation. The lake contains forty square 
miles. Myself and the driver were left alone, and rattling along 
the shores of this modern ScA of Galilee, which, with the Jordan 
and Salt Lake, fornis so strange a copy of the wonders of the 
Holy Land, while I enjoyed the calm beauty of the Utah 
moonlight, I could but wonder if this region was to become 
historic in aftertimes as the starting-point of a new religion, 
where future pilgrims should wander by the voiceless 
shore, and look back over eighteen centuries to the cradle 
of their faith. Mormonism is now forty-three years old, 
dating from the first baptism in the brook of Sharon, New 
York, and claims to have more converts than did Christianity 
10 



146 HUNTING MULES. 

at the same age. Will it in time be purgetl of its extraneous 
abominations, polygamy, incest, and blood-atonement, and with 
a purer theology develop into a new form of worship, in more 
vital harmony with the age ? In another generation will some 
great leader, some impassioned orator and reasoner, like Saint 
Paul, seize upon the growing sect, and convert millions to its 
progressive faith ? If so, then Sharon, and Manchester, Kirt- 
land, and Far West, Nauvoo, Salt Lake, and the shores of the 
American Jordan will become places of holy renown and pious 
pilgrimage, while Governors Boggs and Ford, yes, and some 
who have employed their pens against Mormonism, will rank 
in the future Church History like Pilate and Herod in their 
connection with the true faith. 

So much by way of riotous fancy. But the prospect, melan- 
choly as it might appear to a good Mormon, did not prevent my 
catching a few minutes' sleep on the smoothest parts of the road, 
till daylight revealed the north point of Iron Mountain, and 
my last station on the stage road. This was Chicken Creek, 
whence the main road bears westward, and a trail through a 
high uninhabited valley leads to the Sevier road. It was the 
<lay for the miners' express, and the station-keeper informed me 
"The mules was in the sagebrush; driver would start as soon 
as he got 'em." 

All new staging enterprises in the West begin with mules. 
They take whipping and cursing more kindly, and in emer- 
gencies can live on the white sage, which horses cannot. The 
first coaches from the Missouri to Denver were drawn entirely 
by mules, the stations often fort^ miles apart; and in some 
instances a " whipper" was employed to gallop beside the team, 
and urge them forward. Arrived at the station, the mules 
were turned out till the next coach came in, when the passen- 
gers were expected to hunt them, the penalty for refusal being 
severe if the driver had power to enforce it. An old plains- 
man gave A. Ward the following account of the style: 

"A while back there M^ent along here one of them fellers 
dressed out to kill in Boston cloze, and the first station they 
come to they wan't no mules. Says the chap with Boston 



AN UNLUCKY BOSTONIAN. 



147 




"you go hunt 'em!" 



cloze, says he, ' Where'ti them mules?' Says the driver, 'Them 
mules is in the sagebrusii ; you go hunt 'em ; that's what you 
<lo.' Says the man o' Boston dressin', ' Oh, no.' Says the 
driver, 'Oh, yes;' an' he took his big stage-whip, an' he licked 
the man o' Boston dressin' till he went an' got the mules. 
How docs that strike you for a joke?" 

We consumed two days in making the hundred miles to the 
mines, traveling up the Sevier River, and passing through 
seven abandoned towns. The Mormons settled most of this 
valley many years since, but were driven out by Indians in 
1866 ; their well-built towns, surrounded by immense stone 
walls, still stood in perfect preservation, but uninhabited. 



148 UP PINE GULCH. 

My memory does not recall a more pleasant journey. The 
"coves" opening back into the mountains were rich in bunch- 
grass, winch was fairly alive with jack rabbits; sage hens, and 
other small fowl were abundant on the lower plain, and vast 
flocks of ducks were found along the river. The valley has a 
general elevation of five thousand feet above sea-level ; the air 
was cool, pure and invigorating, and the sky without a cloud, 
deep blue and dazzling. Southern Utah has probably the finest 
climate in America, or, taking it the year round, in the world. 
The snow seldom falls more than three inches deep, or lies on 
more than one night. Cattle live upon the range nearly all 
winter, and yet the district is free from the scorching summer 
heats of Arizona. 

At Marysvale, last town on the Sevier, we found the Mor- 
mons returning to their homes, after three years' absence, the 
Indians being once more peaceful. There we turned west- 
ward, and toiled for six miles up Pine Gulch, on which the 
mines are situated. Along the mountain stream by a narrow 
"dug-way," with an average up-grade of one foot in four, but 
cut by cross ravines, and often turned by immense rocks, we 
slowly made our way towards the mountain top. One moment 
we were on the edge of a narrow track where an overturn 
vvoidd have sent us a hundred feet into the bed of the stream, 
and the next struggling through a narrow chasm at the bottom 
of the gulch, with walls of granite rising on both sides of us, 
and above them the sloping sides of the cailon half a mile in 
hight, with a descent of more than forty-five degrees, and cov- 
ered with immense pine forests to the very summit. The roar- 
ing brook, now beside, now far below us, and again under our 
wagon-wheels, seems to be singing of the snowy hights that 
form its source; and at every place where a short level or 
natural dam of rock forms a pool, the shining mountain trout 
are to be seen in numbers through the clear fluid, though its 
temperature is but little above that of ice-water, which indeed 
it is at its source a few miles above. 

We find Bullion City a straggling row of houses along the 
one street, which inclines some thirty degrees towards the bed 



SEVIER. 149 

of the stream. Miners, particularly in new districts, are always 
(leligiiteil to see a journalist; I was warmly welcomed, made free 
of the hospitality of the most })retentious cabin in the place, and 
S[)ent three days looking at the mines. Then, for the first time, 
I became familiar with those mysterious terms of the mining 
language: " lodes," "croppings," "wall-rock," "foot and hang- 
ing wall," "dips," "spurs," "angles," "variations," and "sinu- 
osities." At the end of three days I concluded that I knew all 
of the science which was of any particular value, and proceeded 
to write an authoritative report on the Sevier Mines. Two yeans 
afterwards, at the end of three n)onths' hard travel, and parti- 
cularly hard study of shafts, tunnel, etc., I concluded that my 
education for a " mining expert" had just begun, and was quite 
likely never to be finished. I discovered that there was about 
the same difference between any two districts as between any 
two languages the student may acquire ; while certain general 
principles pervade all, the details are radically different. I 
discovered, after Utah began to be a mining country, that the 
position of mining reporter is one of exceeding liability to mis- 
takes, and taken all in all, certainly, the most thankless, unpro- 
fitable But I anticipate. To resume. 

Sevier ought to have been a rich and well developed mining 
region. Of that I am still convinced. But it was too far from 
the railroad ; the characteristic of the region was large bodies 
of low grade ore — too low grade to reward transportation to a 
great distance — the original locators were too poor to get in 
mills and machinery, and capitalists then had no faith in Utah 
mines. My sanguine predictions for the region were singularly 
falsified ; it was the last district in Utah to be developed, ^ly 
friend and host, Mr. Jacob Hess, held on till the last, and when 
the district did "come out," had the satisfaction of retiring with 
a comfortable fortune. 

After a delightful sojourn in southern Utah, I returned to my 
editorial labors, a new man physically. I have since traversed 
the Great Basin in many different ways, and to avoid vain repe- 
tition append a few facts which the reader may refer to or avoid 
at leisure. 



150 A HARD COUNTRY. 

The Great Basin contains nearly one half of Utah, all of 
Nevada, a large portion of -sontlieastern Caliiorni;i, and small 
sections of Idaho, Or.'ji'on, and Wyoniini;:. Jn this stranixe 
reirion all nature seems to he reversed : a river is larg;er at the 
middle than at the mouth, where it has any mouth ; the lakes 
have no outlet to the ocean, though receiving large streams ; 
timber grows only on the mountains, all the interior plains 
being bare ; about one-eighth the quantity of rain falls as in the 
eastern States, and possibly one acre in fifty is lit for cultivation. 
The rest consists of alkali beds, salt plains, rocky flats, barren 
mountains, bitter pools and brackish marshes, extinct volcanoes, 
lava beds, and "dry rivers," with occasional patches of biuich- 
grass — the last rendering perha})s one-third of the Basin of some 
value for grazing. 

Geographically it is divided into a number of smaller basins, 
each with a water system of its own, that draining into Great 
Salt Lake being the largest. The only land fit for cultivation 
is found along the base of the highest mountains, where melting 
snow furnishes some moisture throughout the dry season ; or in 
narrow strips of valley along the streams, where irrigation is 
practicable. Even of the fertile land, not more than one- third 
can be reclaimed without a most expensive system of irrigation. 
In Utah the Mormons have nearly exhausted the valleys which 
can be cultivated by the common mode; agriculture can only be 
extended further by more scientific engineering, carrying out 
canals from the heads of the larger streams upon higher plateaus. 
In this manner they might reclaim the great plateau west of 
Bear River, that west of the Jordan and jierhaps three or f )ur 
others. That territorv has about reached the limit of its farming 
jjopulation, except some such j)lan be adopted. Nevada, with 
81,539 S(piare miles, has about as much good land as three 
average counties in Ohio. 

But where the land is fit and irrigation practicable, the yield 
is immense. Wheat averaged last year in Utah, twenty bushels 
per acre; oats, barley and jxitatoes are jiroduced in abundance; 
a little Indian corn is raised, but the climate is not favorable; 
peaches and apples may be counted on every year, and nearly 



DEATH VALLEY. 151 

all the fruits and vegetables of the temperate zone yield boun- 
teously. 

Politically the Great Basin ought to be all included in one 
State. It would then have about population enough for one 
Representative in Congress, which neither of its divisions will 
have for tl>o next twenty years, unless the number of members 
is increased every decade ; for the country at large is increasing 
in population as fast, if not faster, than either Nevada or Utah. 
The proposed State would be a mining commonwealth, whose 
laws M'ould apply equally. Mormonism out of the way, its 
people would be homogeneous, with interests substantially the 
same in every section, and with the railroads already done and 
in a fair way for completion communication would be easy, as 
the population is located only around the edges, leaving the cen- 
ter uninhabited. 

The Mormons are much praised for what they have done in 
Utah ; but it seems to me a people who were so absurd as to 
settle in such a country, \vhen empires of good land were beg- 
ging for inhabitants, have too little judgment to be relied on for 
anything. We can scarcely respect the general intellect of a 
man who sfpiats in a mud-hole, though we may wonder at his 
energy in getting out. 

As we go towards the southwest all cultivable land disappears. 
The "Great Desert" of Nevada and Utah covers some 30,000 
square miles, and is succeeded by the sunken deserts which ex- 
tend down to the Colorado. Most notable among these is 
Death Valley, so called from the loss of an emigrant train, of 
which the following account is given : 

" It is said to be lower than the level of the sea, and wholly 
destitute of water. The valley is some fifty miles long by thirty 
in breadth, and save at two points it is wholly encircled by 
mountains, up whose steep sides it is impossible for any but ex- 
pert climbers to ascend. It is devoid of vegetation, and shadow 
of bird or beast never darkens its white, glaring sand. In the 
early days trains of emigrants bound for California passed, 
under the direction of guides, to the south of Death Vallev, by 
what is known as the old '■ Mormon road.' In the year 1850, a 



152 APPEARANCE OF THE DEAD. 

]:u'ge train with some three hundred and fifty emigrants, mostly 
from Illinois and Missouri, came south from Salt Lake, guided 
by a Mormon. When near Death Valley a dissension broke out 
in a part of the train, and twenty-one families appointed one of 
their number a leader and broke off from the main party. The 
leader detern)ined to turn due west ; so with tiie jieople and 
wagons and flocks, he traveled for three days, and then de- 
scended into the broad valley whose treacherous miraf/e prom- 
ised water. They reached the center, but only the white, glar- 
ing sand, boiuided by the scorched peaks, met their gaze on 
every hand. Around the valley they wandered, and one by 
one the men died, and the panting flocks stretched themselves 
in death under the hot sun. Then the children crying for 
water, died at their mothers' breasts, and with swollen tongues 
and burnina: vitals, the mothers followed. Waffon after wagon 
was abandoned, and strong men tottered, and raved and died. 
After a week's wandering, a dozen survivors found some water 
in the hollow of a rock in the mountains. It lasted but a short 
time, when all jierished but two, who, through some miraculous 
means, got out of the valley, and followed the trail of their for- 
mer companions. Eighty seven persons, with htmdreds of ani- 
mals, perished in this fearful place, and since then, the name of 
Death Valley has been a}iplied to it. Mr. Spears says when he 
visited it after the lapse of eighteen years, he found the wagons 
still complete, iron works and tires bright, and the shriveled 
skeletons lying in many places side by side." 



CHAPTER IX. 

THEOUGH NEVADA. 

Out of a place — A wanderer again — Tired of Utah — Westward — Promontory— » 
Salty district — Queer calculations — Down the Humboldt — Elko — White Pine 
— "John Chinamen" — Humboldt Canon — Desert — Reese River — -"Sinks" — 
Morning at Truckee — Beauty of the Sierras — Eureka! — Donner and Bigler 
Lakes — AVestern Slope — " Forty miles of snow sheds" — Mining towns — Cape 
Horn — Sublime scenery — Scientific engineering— Swiftly downward — Scenery 
of the Pacific slope — Out upon the plain — Tae California autumn — Suburbs 
of Sacramento. 

RETURNED from Sevier to Corinne to find the affairs 
of the Reporter in a condition of beautiful uncertainty. 
Both my partners had previously sold out to a new 
man, who had, in my brief absence, quietly installed 
another editor, without the little formality of consulting 
me. The " Josephite" Mormons were just then gaining a little 
groun^l in Utah, and it was proposed to make the paper a sort 
of " Josei)hite organ," which did not at all suit me. After ten 
days of fruitless effort to compromise our views, I gave up the 
contest, put my share of tiie concern " on sale," and was out of 
employment. There remained nothing for me but the uncertain 
chances of travel, so I renewed my determination of the pre- 
vious year and started westward. 

Utah is a favorite place for the curious, but one grows tired 
even of Utah, with all its curiosities of nature and religion ; its 
hot springs and hotter passions ; its pure air and water and 
impure ethics; its lofty mountains and low conceptions of 
human nature ; its social perversions, blood-mixtures, ignorance 
and priestcraft. All these charms could not always interest, 
and on the afternoon of September 23d, 1869, I took the train 
westward, determined to see how the tide of human life 

moved on — 

153 



154 SALINE BAYOUS. 

" 'Mid sage-brush in Nevada State, 
Where silver-miners congregate." 

Reaching Promontory, still the junction of Union and Cen- 
tral, by dark, I was sui'prised, not very agreeably, to find that 
my fame had preceded me. All the "sports" seemed to know 
me at sight, which I could not account for till a friend handed 
me an old copy of the Cincinnati Commercial, and therein I 
saw my former letter, containing a description by no means 
flattering of this same " Robbers' Roost," and a j)artial expose 
of the little games practised here. But one copy had reached 
the place, and that had been handed around and read as long 
as it would hold together, causing a dangerous mixture of wrath 
and mirthfulness. An ol<l mdrife-dealer, whose accpiaintance I 
had made at Benton tiie previous year, soon hastened to take 
me by the hand with many compliments: " Capital, sir, caj)ital ! 
Almost equal to Mark Twain ; good burlesque ; much pleased 
with your account of how we roped the old Californians. Now 
then, as long as you stay here, stick by me, and you shan't be 
hurt." I availed myself of his kind offer, but found it conve- 
nient to go west on the first train. 

We change here to the plainer cars of the Central Pacific, and 
a down grade of fifty miles brings us to Indian Creek, and 
Kelton Station, at the northwest corner of the lake, and in a 
valley of alkali flats and salt beds of indescribable barrenness. 
The town of Kelton will certainly never spoil for want of salt. 
The spring rise of the lake covers all the adjacent low lands, 
and retiring during the dry season, leaves thousands of acres 
crusted with salt", and here and there a little pond with deposits 
of the pure crystal a foot in depth. One enterprising firm 
proposes to dam the mouth of a long bayou near, and place a 
windmill on the lake sliore, witli force sufficient to keep the 
pond thns created full all summer; the evaporation would be 
continuous and raj)id, making, in one season, half a million 
tons of salt. The lake has an average width of forty, and 
length of ninety miles ; in the center it is forty feet in depth, 
the borders shelving gradually, and the entire body will average 
18 per cent, of salt, or a little over one gallon in six of the 




155 



156 "Crocker's pets." 

fluid. From these figures it is estimated that the entire body 
contains five billion tons of salt. Rather a big estimate, but 
probably it would take that much to sweeten the kingdom of 
Brigham. 

Westward from the Promontory we find California work and 
ideas, pay in coin, and encounter everywhere the Chinese, with 
their singular dresses of silk and linen, their chip hats, rice 
feed, and cheap labor. " Crocker's pets," as they were then 
styled on the Central, worked for thirty-one dollars per month 
and boarded themselves, which amounted to an effectual em- 
bargo on white laborers wherever they came into competition. 
Of course there was furious opposition, " prejudice against 
color," and jealousy about " our proud Caucasian blood," and 
the old-time talk about the freedmen was repeated over and 
over again, without the merit of variation. 

Naturally enough, the politicians are deeply interested, and 
inquiring earnestly, "What shall we do M'ith them?" It 
never seems to occur to these inquirers, as it did not in the 
case of the free negroes in the North, that the objects of their 
solicitude are doing quite well without their interference. It 
appeared to me somewhat ridiculous that those who took such 
strong ground against enfranchising the negroes because they 
were " lazy, improvident, and worthless," were just as savage 
against the Chinese for exactly the opposite reasons: that they 
are so patient, temperate, laborious, and saving, that they can 
Avork cheaper and supplant white men. 

I stopped for a few days' observation at the new, enterprising 
and furiously speculative town of Elko, situated in the best 
part — the only good part — of the Humboldt Valley, and the 
point of departure for the White Pine mines and other newly 
discovered districts. With its enormous frei^-htino- business to 
the mines of Eastern Nevada, Elko has better chances for a 
continued existence than most of the "mushroom towns" on 
the Pacific Railway. I found it a pretentious and lively city. 
]\Iost of the business men were " Californiaized Jews," — an 
improved variety of the race. All transactions are on a gold 
basis. Greenbacks were then taken from "pilgrims," and 



A BIG DIGGER. 157 

under protest, at seventy-five cents on the dollar, not following 
the fluctuations of the gold-room except at long intervals. The 
climate is a combination of hot sun and cold winds, v/Ith occa- 
sional wind-storms and frightful clouds of alkali dust — rather 
disay-reeable much of the time. The stay-es from White Pine 
came in loaded heavily every day, making an agreeable liveli- 
ness and change of population ; and from ten to forty tons of 
freight went on to the same place by the long mule trains, 
making an equal liveliness in business circles. To all business 
intents, Elko was a White Pine town. 

White Pine, the great sensation of Nevada, was discovered in 
1865, by a band of " prospectors " from Austin. After a weary 
journey over the barren mountains of Eastern Nevada, they 
came upon the first " indications" at what is now known as tlie 
Piute District. Not satisfied with these they descended from 
Diamond Range into the present Mohawk Canon, where they 
came upon the first " float" now so celebrated. Returning to 
camp one evening from a weary hunt, they came upon a greasy 
Piute smelling around their meat-sacks, aud thrusting his filthy 
fingers into their pot of beans. With kicks and curses they 
drove away the aborigine, but next morning he returned hold- 
ing in his hand a piece of green-tinged rock, on which their 
practised eyes detected " horn silver." They were upon him 
at once with questions as to where he got it. " Heap hungry — 
me like um beans," was the diplomatic reply in the best Eng- 
lish he could command. No kicks or curses, no driving out 
now. The best in the camp was at his command, and when 
gorged to repletion, probably for the first time in his life, the 
Digger led them to the spot where he obtained his specimen — 
the place now famous as the original Hidden Treasure Lode. 
The photograph of that Indian now has an extensive sale in 
the towns of White Pine, and he may be said to have achieved 
immortality. 

Strangely enough White Pine remained almost unknown for a 
year or two after the discovery. October 10th, 1865, the pioneers 
organized the mining district, which they named from the forests 
of scrubby white pine which cover most of the hills. The White 



158 RESTLESS MINERS. 

Pine range extends due north and south for twelve miles, with 
an averag'C altitude of nine tliousand feet; the summers are 
rendered disagreeable by storms of wind and dust, and for five 
months of winter the cold is excessive. Tiiere, as in most parts 
of Nevada, a man with an umbrella is hailed as a ''pilgrim" — 
just from the East; for in the summer it rarely rains, and when 
it does, an umbrella would be torn to ribands in five minutes. 
Nevertheless, White Pine became the goal of all who desired 
to be suddenly rich. The "rush" began early in 1868; by the 
opening of 1870, fifty quartz-mills were in opei'ation, and the 
county numbered twenty thousand inhabitants. 

The miner is the most restless of men — except, perhaps, tlie 
sailor. In a poor camp he longs for a good one; in a good one 
he longs for a better. AVith steady work, at six or seven dollars 
a dav profit, he will drop his pick at a moment's notice to fol- 
low a new " excitement." Notwithstanding all the enormous 
fortunes made at White Pine, I met dozens every day who were 
cursing the place and their luck in it. Eberhardt, the richest 
location, is synonymous with Eldorado ; but for one Eberhardt 
there were ten thousand "locations" that never "paid grub 
wages." It is the history of all very rich mining districts; 
people will draw too largely on the future, and the wealth of 
Potosi would not have averted the ruin of those who specu- 
lated too deeply and rashly. 

Leaving the fast town of Elko — from Omaha 1305 miles, 
from' Sacramento 496, above sea-level 5092 feet — on the morn- 
ing of Se[)tember 30th, we moved west-southwest and down the 
Humboldt. 

The scenery is not ins[)iring. The only view of any gran- 
deur is at Humboldt Canon, now better known as the Palisades, 
a wihl gorge through which the river has forced its way in some 
far distant geologic age, and where the railroad track lies along 
the base of a perpendicular rock many hundred feet in hight. 
Far below the excavated track the waters of the Humboldt 
foam over the uneven bottom of a narrow channel, obstructed 
in many places by the immense rocks, which have fallen from 
the cliff'. The lack of colors in the stone prevents that singular 



" GINASTICUTIS." 



lo9 




HUMBOLDT PALISADES. 



variety wliich is tlie cliarrn of Echo and Weber Canons, but 
the cold unchanging grey imparts a wild and gloomv beauty 
instead. On the south side of the canon the Devil's Peak rises 
fifteen luindred feet directly above the river. In a cleft near 
the top is a singular looking mass of sticks and long roots, just 
visible from below, which those who have examined it aver to 
be a mammoth bird's nest, strongly constructed of willows and 
rushes, which still endure the wear of the elements though 
abandoned long ago. If indeed a nest, it must have been in- 
habited in an age of birds larger than the condor or any exist- 
ing species. A fellow-traveler suggested that the occupant was 
cotemporary with the Hibernian fowl, generally denominated 
the "Ginasticutis." 

In the old days of crossing the continent the emigrants could 
not drive through this canon ; so left it at a side cailon some 
miles above, and toiled a wearisome way over the mountains, 
seeking the valley again by the first practicable route below. 



160 A DRY STATE. 

This brought them clown to Gravelly Ford, one of the few 
places where grass was rich and abundant; and here emigrant 
companies often remained several weeks to rest and recruit their 
stock. The Shosiionee Indians also knew the place' well, and 
many a fight with them has occurred here; sometimes, too, it is 
whispered, with "painted Mormons," caused in both cases by a 
conflict of opinion in regard to the ownership of stock. 

Thence down the long, shallow Humboldt there is little to be 
seen but the same dreary and unvarying wastes, relieved but 
rarely by patches of bunch grass or sagebrush. Sometimes a 
green plat a})pears in a depression of the valley, or an occa- 
sional strip of meadow land near the river; nortii and south of 
us are continuous lines of hard, bleak and forbidding moun- 
tain peaks. Late in the day we reach the opening of Reese 
River Valley, forming a break in the line of hills south of the 
Humboldt. Reese River rises away in Southern Nevada, and 
after running two hundred miles northward, sometimes almost 
disappearing, "and again, when swollen by mountain streams in 
some parts of its course, taking almost respectable rank as a 
river, it finally enters the open plain and forms a "sink" 
before reaching the Humboldt. In this word "siidv" the 
Western man embodies an empirical explanation of the disap- 
pearance of the water; but elemental action and reaction are 
necessarily equal, whether in an enclosed basin or on the entire 
earth's surface, and the water really goes upward instead of 
downward. Eastern readers may wonder that all the rivers of 
Nevada "run to nothing," but a little experience in the State 
would explain the matter. If the Ohio were turned into the 
northeast corner of the Great Basin, not a drop of it would 
ever reach the Colorado — at least above ground. The thirsty 
alkali soil, hot sun and drying air would exhaust it before it 
could traverse the State. 

Hot springs are found at various places along the Humboldt ; 
at Elko, Cluro, or Hot Spring Valley, Golconda, and other 
places ; all of which are reported " highly medicinal " — by those 
who own town lots in the vicinity I suppose, as I never heard 
of any chemical analysis. Of the towns along the route little 



DRY NEVADA. 



161 




ON THE TRUCKEE— C. P. E. R, 



need be said. Carlin, Argenta, Winnemucca, and several others 
have simply the history of Union Pacific towns over again : a 
roaring, ratth'ng period of boisterous life, with about an equal 
mixture of business and pleasure, as long as it was the terminus, 
f()llowed by a sudden decay when the road moved on, left each 
in a state of half-hopefulness, waiting for mines to be discovered 
in the vicinity, or " something to turn up." 

At dusk we turn straight west, crossing for the last time the 
noted Humboldt, which has been decreasing for a hundred miles, 
and is now shrunk to a mere slough, meandering sluggishly to 
the southward, where a few miles further on, it has just enough 
vitality left to enter the "sink," and then exit the Humboldt. 
There we enter upon the Great Nevada Desert — horror of early 
11 



102 



TlMBEli AGAIN. 




^^^ 



PLACER MINING. 

Miners shovel earth, containing gold dust, into a flume— the earth is washed away and the 
gold settles to the bottom. 

emigrants — which greedily swallows the little moisture of creeks, 
rivers and clouds, but yields nothing in return. In it and on 
its borders are Pyramid, Humboldt, Carson, Winnemucca, and 
Mud Lakes; its area includes all the Central Basin of Nevada, 
and in every part are found evidences of recent volcanic action. 
But sleep intervened, till daylight brought to view the wild 
scenery of the Sierras, upon which we enter along the course of 
the foaming Truckee, and soon after passing Verdi Station, at 
an elevation of five thousand feet, we cross the dividing line, 
and shout EUREKA, for we are in Eldorado, the Golden 
State — Cal i for n ia. 

Crossing the Truckee we take an additional locomotive and 
enter upon the ascent of the Sierras. The first large curve up 
the mountain side brings us above Donner Lake, with a fine 
view of it; and soon after we are ahuost over Lake Bigler. A 



GRAND SCENERY. 



163 




CAPE HORN— C. P. R. R. 

little farther brings us to Summit Station, highest point on the 
Central Pacific, 7042 feet above sea-level, 1669 miles from 
Omaha, and 105 from Sacramento. We enter now upon the 
western slope, with its steep descent, and with the brakes " set 
up" and very little steam, we still rush along at a fearful rate, 
at one place running twenty-five miles in thirty minutes, Mith- 
out an ounce of steam. Forty miles of snow sheds have been 
erected along this part of the line at a cost of a million and a 
half of dollars ; to the great assurance of winter passage, but to 
an equal hindrance of our enjoyment of the view. 

Running out upon a more gentle grade we pass in rapid suc- 
cession Dutch Flat, Little York, You Bet, and Red Dog, all 
old mining towns, the largest still containing three thousand 
inhabitants. All along the road we see mile after mile of 
flumes running in every direction down the ridges, and carrying 
large streams to be used in hydraulic mining below, and in 
places pass hundreds of acres of " old dirt," which has been 
washed out and abandoned. But the feature of greatest interest. 



fel 

SI 
SI 

a 

<! 

>• 
o 




A HIGHWAY. 165 

next to the mountains themselves, is the tall timber, everywhere 
covering the slopes and crests to the very summit. To one just 
from the treeless plains of Nevada and Utah the sight is de- 
lightful, and like an invalid from the lumber districts of Maine 
who lately passed this way, one feels to exclaim, " Thank the 
Lord, I smell pitch once more." 

The finest view is at Cape Horn, but the sight is not good for 
nervous people. An awful chasm, at first apparently right 
before us, and then but a little to the left, opens directly across 
the range ; and standing on the steps of the car, it seems as if 
the train were rushing headlong into it. The first view allows 
the sight to pierce a thousand feet, almost straight downward to 
the green bottom, where the trees shrink to mere shrubs, and 
the Chinamen working at the lumber seem like pigmies; a little 
further down the gorge the wagon bridge, hundreds of feet 
above the bottom, appears like a faint white band, and still fur- 
ther the sight is lost in a blue mist. The railroad track is ex- 
cavated along the sides and around the head of this gorge, 
where in aboriginal days the Indians had not even a foot-path, 
as the first descent from the head of the chasm is six hundred 
feet, nearly perpendicular. When the road-bed was constructed, 
the men who made the first excavation were secured by ropes 
let down from a higher point. 

Coming out of this wild scenery into a region where settle- 
ments begin to thicken, and gardens, orchards, and cultivated 
fields appear, we pass Colfax, Clipper Gap, Auburn, New Cas- 
tle, Rocklin, and Junction. The climate changes rapidly; in 
place of the gray-brown vegetation of the Basin, we see the 
bright yellow grass and flowers of the California autumn, and 
the red branches and pale green leaves of the manzanita. By 
noon the air is quite warm. Down at last on the California 
side of the Sierras we emerge from the foot-hills upon a rather 
level plain, dotted with clumps of trees, and more rarely a cul- 
tivated field. 

We seem in a new world ; •verything has a more southern or , 
tropical appearance. The grass is quite yellow, in places with 
a coppery hue, cured, dried up, as if the surface had been uni- 



166 



CALIFORNIA PLAINS. 



for mly scorched over. But this is the " dry season." During 
winter and spring this plain is green with rich grass ; as the 
season advances the verdure dries upon the ground, and the 
Caiifbrnian's season of short pasture comes, not in the winter, 
but in the late summer and fall. The soil is rather sandy. The 
little bayous and streams appear to have dried up many weeks 
ago, and the dust is quite annoying. 

AVhen this dry, parched region has begun to grow monoto- 
nous, a fresh accession of green indicates that we are on marsh 
land. Soon after we run upon a long trestlework, then pass 
the bridge 5ver American River, and enter upon a beautiful 
eourse between great vineyards, and amid the semi-tropical vege- 
tation, luxurious gardens and well-watered grass plats, which 
adcra the suburbs of the State Capital. 








INTERIOR op I'M VCE-CAR ON CENTRAL PACIFIC. 



CHAPTER X. 

AFOOT IN CALIFORNIA. 

New Spain — Poetry and fact — Saxon and Spaniard — Cavalier and Pioneer — Our 
Heroic Age — The American Iliad — Sacramento — Yolo county-" TiUes" — 
Chinese — California Central R. R. — Ague — High and Low Water-marks — 
Chinese and Chinese labor — Acclimating sickness — Davisville — Sericulture — 
Warner's Vineyard — The land of grapes — Pears, apples, and figs — UiJ Putah 
Creek — Drouth and dust — The rainy season at hand — Fruit farms near the 
coast range — Haiiches on\y, not homes — Popular reasons therefor — Agricultural 
items — Shall we settle in rural California — Chinese " Devil-drive " — Mongo- 
lian Theology — " Josh "—Blowing up the Devil — Ah Ching's opinion — " China 
like Melica man ! " — Off for " Frisco." 



o| N his day-dreams, the Spaniard of the sixteenth century 
)T| saw an Eldorado in the unknown West; a land of 
^"i gold and glittering gems, of flowers and fruit, of 
shining sands and crystal streams, of soft air and mild 
skies ; where a temperate climate and fertile soil prom- 
ised bodily ease, and unfailing health was to be gained from 
fountains of youth-restoring virtue — the Hesperia of ancient 
poets realized in the New World. For this, Narvaez, De Soto, 
and a host of others, sought long and traveled far, but died 
without the sight; nature had provided no "Islands of the 
blest," even amid the soft airs of tlie Pacific. 

There was, however, an Eldorado there ; not the fabled clime 
which lured the imaginative Spaniard, but still a land of wealth 
and plenty, where industry was to find a bounteous reward, and 
enterprise build up a golden State. But not for a superstitious 
race, ignorant of true liberty, was this domain reserved. In the 
divine predestination of history this hidden wealth was to starve 
the puposes of freedom ; it was to aid a civilization based on 
individual thought and energy ; to strengthen a free Republic, 

167 



168 



A FULL-GROWN STATE. 



X. 








SACRAMENTO. 



and in the dark hour furnish the " sinews of war," in a death- 
struggle with slavery. 

For two centuries, men of Spanish extraction wandered amid 
the beauties of California, ignorant of her capacities and making 
but awkward use of the hundredth part of her surface wealth, 
till the fullness of time came, when enlightened freemen owned 
the soil, and so soon thereafter as to show a providence, her 
hidden wealth was made known. From that day the history 
of the State reads like a romance. At once, and from every 
part of the Great Republic, half a million of freemen came 
crowding to this coast; and with scarce a period of transition, 
without the slow, irregular growth of a territorial childhood, 
this commonwealth sprang, full-orbed, into Statehood, like 
Minerva from the brain of Jupiter. 

It is not at all surprising that Californians should be inclined 
to boast; or that they should seem proud even of their vices. 
It is in the air, the clime, more than all in the history of their 
State. Their virtues and vices are so near akin in their origin : 
both spring from that riotous exuberance of nature, that prodi- 
gality of life both animal and vegetable, which makes existence 
on this coast a constant excitement. The material, too, which 
made California was of no common kind. The pioneers were 



HALF A MILLION HEROES. 169 

men of extremes; they did not stop half way, either in their 
work or pleasures, and with the rapid changes of early days it 
is not surprising that dissipation and crime kept even pace with 
hardy enterprise, in the very recklessness of perverted energy. 
Of all who came to California in the various '' excitements," 
from 1848 to 1855, in general only the most successful or the 
most utterly ruined, remained ; but, combined with the expe- 
rience of those who returned, their history makes one of the 
grandest chapters of our day. Time only is needed to add its 
bright halo, to make that our " heroic age," and those the demi- 
gods of our social and commercial history. 

Consider that twenty-five years ago the vast distance overland 
was alone enough to appal the ordinary mind ; add to that the 
broad prairies, the rugged mountains and scorched deserts, the 
great plains without water, the unknown character of the 
country, the great rivers with their fords of treacherous sands, 
the savage Indians, then threatening the whole route, the danger 
from sickness and loss of supplies, and to this all the imagina- 
tion could supply of unknown terrors, and it seems amazing 
that any considerable number of men should ever contemplate 
such a journey. But, despite all this, the love of gold and ad- 
venture led half a million men to brave all these perils. We 
talk much of the noted men in our colonial history ; but there 
is scarcely a township in the United States but has one or more 
men who have traveled more miles, seen more of nature and 
adventure, risked greater danger and undergone more toil and 
hardship, than did the famous Captain John Sniith in settling 
Virginia. Where is the Homer who shall sing the American 
Iliad — of the half million heroes who attacked and conquered 
the wild obstructions of nature; or the Odyssey of the re- 
turning brave, who retraced their steps for the most part with 
wounds and glory for their pay ? 

The Treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo made California ours in 
October, 1848. A few weeks before, a laborer named Marshal 
picked up the first piece of gold in the almost unknown terri- 
tory. To-day we enter a rich and powerful State by the 
greatest railway in the world. 



SACRAMENTO VALLEY. 171 

I remained a week in Sacramento, which I found lively and 
beautiful ; but the peculiar condition of the pocket-nerve ren- 
dered it insalubrious as a continued residence for me. Besides, 
the towns could give me but little idea of the natural wealth of 
the State, though the towns only have been described by the press, 
and in the accounts of most travelers San Francisco is California. 
So on the morning of October 12th, knapsack in hand, I started 
to see the rural districts. 

Crossing the Sacramento to the little town of Washington, in 
Yolo County, then the terminus of the California Central t^ail- 
road, I followed the track of that road for ten miles as the best 
way to get through the " tule lands." These constitute a tract 
nearly ten miles wide, overflowed during the winter and spring, 
and till late in summer intersected by almost impassable sloughs. 
Tule is the Spanish or Indian name of a coarse reed which 
covers the entire tract, green during winter and spring, but now 
dry as tinder, and furnishing fuel for extended fires. Far down 
among the reeds, which often exceeded ten feet in hight, I saw 
cattle hunting for scattering clumps of grass which still had a 
little shade of green in the moisture preserved by the tides. 
Beyond this tract, the road emerges into a vast plain, overflowed 
for many miles out in winter, but now dry and dusty, and 
covered with coarse grass of a yellowish brown color, which 
looks to the Eastern eye as if every particle of nutriment were 
burnt out of it. 

Eight miles from Sacramento I rested at the Tule House. 
The previous winter a good-sized steamer ran out every day to 
this hotel, and tied up to the porch of the upper story, their 
water privileges being uncommonly good for four months in the 
year. Many and various are the schemes ])roposed to reclaim 
and utilize this overflow tract, extending some ten miles out 
from the river. The one most favorably received is, to cut an 
immense canal directly across the big bend of the Sacramento 
from near Marysville to the head of Suisun Bay, which, ac- 
cording to the engineers, would leave the land dry two months 
earlier in the spring. The soil is ten feet in depth, formed 
by deposits from the annual overflows ; and the advocates of 



172 



MALARIOUS COUNTRY. 




GEYSERS, PLUTON RIVER, CALIFORNIA. 



rice culture here claim that it would support "five head of 
Chinamen to the acre." 

At present it is prolific of death rather than life, and at the 
first place I stopped, I was painfully reminded of the Wabash 
''bottoms," by finding the wiiole family suffering from ague. 
This was contraiy to all I had heard of California, but I found 
all the country near this level tract abundant in bilious diseases. 
The inhabitants testify that, near the foothills, it was formerly 
healthy, but sickness was caused by the system of mining: 
" The water is used over and over again ; run into different 
reservoirs and left to settle, and when one fills up, a new one's 
made, and t'other left bare to the hot sun." Such is the local 
diagnosis, and I may add that I never visited any part of 
America where the inhabitants were not confident "it would be 
the healthiest place in the State, if" — so and so were not the 
case. 

At one point I found the railroad running on trestle-work for 



CHINAMEN. 



173 




'NO SAHVEY.' 



a mile, over a marsh filled with water four months ago, but now 
dry as the hot rays of a California sun, from six months of 
cloudless sky, could make it. Where a good sized steamer 
might have run last January is now a bed of dust, whence the 
lightest winds raises stifling clouds. A little green grass is 
occasionally seen in the shade of the tules, and a few thrifty shrubs 
indicate moisture beneath. After a year's experience it has been 
found necessary to raise the whole road-bed four feet. In this 
work I encountered many gangs of Chinese, with their wicker- 
work basket-shaped hats, stolid, impassive air, and universal 
no saJwey (" don't understand ") to every question. To me they 
all looked alike, the same size, and seemed to have been cast in 
the same mould. It hardly seemed possible that I could get 
well-acquainted with one individual. But their Yankee over- 
seers tell me this is "all a notion at first sight ; " that they see 
as much difference as among whites, and when called upon to 
identify one under oath, which is often the case, do so without 
difficulty. To me they appear to work very slowly, feebly 



174 CALIFOKNIA SILK. 

even ; but the overseers credit them with great steadiness, and 
aver that one does as much in a day as an average Irishman. 
They use no coffee and very little water, making tea tlieir regu- 
lar beverage, both at meals and work. 

Those employed on this road receive twenty-eight dollars a 
month, boarding themselves and resting Sundays. It costs 
them a dollar and a half each per week to live. They have but 
two holidays, which they observe with great festivity : the 
Chinese New Year's, occurring either in January or February, 
as their year contains thirteen lunar months; and the " Devil- 
drive," which takes place in October. Chinese labor is only 
relatively cheap : in California it costs but half that of white 
laborers, or even less ; but in the Eastern States the diiference 
is too little to furnish just grounds to that class who manifest so 
much horror about "an invasion of barbarous Mongolians." 

My haste to reach the hills was moderated by sudden sick- 
ness, resulting from too free use of water from the shallow wells 
of the valley, and I learned by painful experience that new- 
comers must get acclimated in California as well as in the South. 
Taking a short rest at Davisville, fifteen miles from Sacramento, 
I was much interested in a Cocoonery just established there. A 
large field had been planted in mulberry trees ; a factory large 
enough to employ a hundred hands was being erect 'd, and the 
experiment is now in active and favorable operation. Sericul- 
ture will, I have no doubt, constitute one of the leading interests 
of California, as capable men are entering upon it at several 
places, and there can scarcely be a doubt that the climate and 
soil are well adapted thereto. The want of cheap labor has 
been the great hindrance ; and this brings us again to the 
Chinese, who will probably soon become silk manufacturers 
here as they are at home. 

I also spent half a day in the noted vineyard of Fred. War- 
ner, Esq., which contains a hundred acres of grapevines, yield- 
ing several thousand gallons of wine yearly. The " picking 
season " was over, but there were still enough on the vines to 
furnish a plentiful repast. Many thousand bundles had dried 
upon the stem and tasted more like raisins than grapes, unless 



TROPICAL FRUITS. 175 

they happened to be of the more acid Sonoma variety, which 
had a strong, fiery taste. 

The capacity of this soil and climate for grapes is indeed 
wonderful ; every variety from the extreme north to the tropics 
seems to find here a congenial location, a second native country, 
so to speak, where they attain a size and fineness of flavor almost 
incredible. In this vineyard I noted particularly a kind called 
the Black Hamburg, far sweeter than the variety of that name 
in Indiana, which seemed to me the perfection of grapes. 

The Californians also boast much of their apples, but I am not 
so well pleased with them; they seem to me overgrown, lacking 
in piquancy, cloying and " filling" to an extreme, and what 
we, when boys, used to call " pethy." From the vineyard we 
wandered through a large orchard, noting on the way a heavy 
growth of large yellow pears, which to my taste partook of the 
same fault as the apples ; and thence into a plantation of fig 
trees, M'ith broad dark green leaves and purple fruit, of which 
we found enough of the last crop to satisfy a moderate appetite. 

When first gathered, figs are almost black, but when washed 
and dried they turn a pale yellow color — the fig of commerce. 
The trees never bloom ; the heavy leaves are of one color nearly 
all the year, and the fruit starts like a small knob just below the 
joining of the foliage. Those on the south side of the tree are, 
in this latitude, generally best, as they require for protection 
both heat and shade. They are growing for ten months in the 
year, sometimes starting even in the coldest weather. The first 
crop ripens by the first or middle of July, and the second early 
in September. There is seldom a period of over two weeks be- 
tween the crops, and generally a few are ripe on the tree at any 
time. Sometimes enough ripen late in October to constitute a 
third crop. When gathered from the tree the fig is excessively 
sweet and rather juicy, full of soft red seeds ; perhaps not quite 
so cloying as the shop fig, but a very few satisfy. As I wan- 
dered through the brilliant maze of red and yellow flowers, and 
tasted these tropical fruits, it seemed impossible we could be in 
the same latitude as my home in Indiana, where I had enjoyed 
sleighing and skating for two months in the year. 



176 THE DRY SEASON. 

From Davisville I travel up Putah Creek, all day through a 
rich level country, covered now with the rich haze of autumn, 
the air seeming full of red dust and smoke ; pass occasionally 
clumps of trees and veiy inferior looking farm houses, seldom 
painted or well-finished ; traverse mile after mile of continuous 
wheat fields, with stubble still bright though the crop was har- 
vested four months ago, and find the same dry, dusty grassless 
look over the whole landscape. Tiie entire valley is devoted to 
the growth of wheat and barley, with the exception of occasional 
stock-ranches wliich also appear devoid of life at this season, 
with the same old look, and half-Southern, lialf-Spanish air of 
shiftless discoriifort. There is a painful monotony about the 
road, which runs unfenced through a constant succession of wheat 
fields, where the dust has blown in rifts till the surface appears 
to have been plowed again. But this is the worst and last of 
the dry season. A few weeks hence copious showers will drench 
this dusty plain, and a rich velvety coloring will transform the 
landscape; a few weeks more and the bright green of the "grow- 
ing season" will follow, and by the first of February, rural 
California will present a delightful and verdant appearance. 

Now my prevailing impression is one of drought: fields 
parched and cracked open, dust in great heaps among the dried 
vegetation, grass withered and burnt, while the largest creeks 
are entirely dried up or shrunk to mere rivulets, pursuing their 
sluggish and doubtful course away down at the bottom of deep 
gulches which in winter and spring are filled by immense tor- 
rents. At night the horizon is lighted up by fires raging in the 
stubble on the high lands or among the tides lower down, and 
by day the sun is obscured and distant objects hidden by the 
smoke or light haze, which corresponds to our eastern Indian 
summer and is here the immediate precursor of the first rain. 

Reaching the foothills of the Coast Range I find an agreeable 
changre anions: the fruit farms ; and after a few davs' rest there, 
I incline to the opinion tiiat most of the beauty of country life 
in this State, as poets have described it, is to be found in the 
fruit I'egions. The grain districts are certainly far from lovely 
at this season. Grass does not grow about the yards unless irri- 



AGRICULTURE. 177 

gated occasionally, and not one family in twenty has a windmill 
or other arrangements for irrigation. The people seem to be 
aware of these deficiencies and are often profuse in reasons there- 
for: "The country is new, and we hav'n't all got our land paid 
for yet; many got 'grant land/ and got too much, and are 
bothered to pay for it; grass don't start up here like it does in 
the States ; it has to be \vatered and we're not fixed with pumps 
yet ; we want to make some money first, and after awhile when 
we can build larger houses it will be time to fix up," etc., etc. 

Another class fall back on this general formula: "If people 
would only economize here like they do in the States, they'd 
get rich mighty fast; but they don't economize, in fact, they 
can't; California's the best place in the world, splendid place, 
long's you've got plenty o' money; but it's the worst country 
in the world if you're out o' money." Which ojjinion I endorse 
with qualifications, and modestly add : The subscriber never 
found a good country in which to be "onto' money," having 
tried it often. 

As Yolo is an exclusively agricultural county, and a fair 
specimen of rural California, the prospective emigrant inav be 
interested in a few j)lain figures, which I copied from the reports 
at Woodland — county seat — which will enable him to make up 
his mind better than from any opinion of my own. 

Yolo has a long irregular shape,.sixty miles from northeast to 
southwest, with an average width of fifteen miles. Tlie eastern 
lialf is almost a dead level; next west of that is a narrow striji 
of undulating prairie, rising gradually to the footiiills of the 
Coast Range. Tiie level strip consists of some five miles oi" tule 
tract and about as much more grain land. Cottonwood, syca- 
more and willow grow sparsely along the water courses, and 
oak and pine on the foothills. My figures are for the year 18GG, 
the last obtainable, when 100,000 acres were under cultivation. 
These ]>roduced 867,590 bushels of wheat, raised on 26,408 
acres; 70,000 bushels of oats, 1250 bushels of rye, 16,120 bush- 
els of Indian corn, 150 bushels of buckwheat, 200 bushels of 
peas, 4000 bushels of castor beans, 4042 bushels of peanuts, bo- 
sides 1500 pounds of tobacco and 6 pounds of silk cocoons — the 
12 



178 CHANCES FOR SETTLERS. 

last two industries being just established. The same year wore 
})roducod 97,020 pounds of butter, 7040 pounds of checs(^, 
162,680 pounds of wool, and 26,244 pounds of honey, with 
small quantities of hay, potatoes, beets and onions. The pomo- 
logical report gives the number of fruit trees : apple 29,430, 
])each 31,350, pear 12,148 — fig trees not counted — and a few 
lemon, orange and olive trees, were more as an experiment than 
otherwise. There wore also a hundred thousand grapevines in 
the county, and 18,637 gallons of wine and 5687 of brandy 
were made from the vintage of that year. Of live stock there 
were 59,166 sheep, 14,644 hogs, 4480 horses, 1976 mules, 2492 
cows and 4604 beef cattle. The population of the county was 
twelve thousand, which shows a good average of individual 
wealth. The price of land I found to be from one-third to one- 
half what it is in the old farming districts of Indiana. The 
climate for the first six montlis in the year — I record my later 
ex])erience in California — is doubtless the finest in the world. 
For the last four, it is perhaps the M'orst — two months of ter- 
rible dust, followed by torrents of rain and oceans of mud. The 
other two months are just as it happens. Sometimes July and 
Auo;ust are delightful — ahvavs so among the foothills and higher 
valleys ; but if a small amount of rain has fallen, or if the 
^' later rain " has not put in an appearance, they are, in local 
phrase, "tolerable dry." An eastern man would pronounce 
them mtolerably dusty. 

If you have average industry and intelligence — and, of 
course, you won't be reading this book if you hav'n't — and can 
get there with a thousand, or even five hundred dollars clear, 
you can do well — far better than with the same amount in 
Indiana or Ohio. You ovght to expect to make preparations for 
about six weeks of winter, but not one in twenty of the farmers 
do. Their stock take chances, and those which don't get through 
alive are merely considered "out o' luck." The country people 
are generally a trifle shiftless and lazy; and the probabili- 
ties are that when you have been there five years, you will be as 
shiftless and lazy as they are. 

With the capital above mentioned, you can get some kind of 



CHINATOWN. 



179 




IN THE JOSH HOUSE. 



a start on a stock-ranch, grain or fruit farm. But if you have 
no money, stay — well, it don't make much difference where you 
are. In that case I don't know but California is as good a 
place as any other to fight out the battle of life on the line of 
hard work, but it will take all summer, and several of them. 

After a long "tramp" among the fruit farms, I returned to 
Sacramento, falling in everywhere along the road with parties 
of Chinamen going in to the great "Devil-drive." I made 
haste to reach the city in time for that performance, which took 
place October 18th, with imposing ceremonies. Nearly all the 
Chinese in Sacramento live on I street, which for ten blocks is 



180 "top-side josh." 

tlie same as a town in China. There were at least four thou- 
sand in the city on this occasion, tiie workmen from all the 
railroads being present; and with the blowing of horns, 
beating gongs, talking and yelling, by Mongolian courtesy 
called singing, and open air theatres and bands, the}' made the 
evening lively. 

Nearly all the Chinese in America are Orthodox Bocilliists, 
there being very few of the followers of Confucius, who are the 
fashionable infidels or philosophers of China, while the Bood- 
hists constitute the High Church party. Tliey reason the matter 
thus: "If God good, why pray? Tend to the Devil." Hence 
this ceremony of driving out the latter. In company with a 
few whites I crowded through the mass of Mongolians to where 
a tobacco factory had been converted into a temporary "Josh- 
house." They are not at all sensitive or exclusive about their 
religion, and made way for us to reach the interior very good- 
naturedly. 

We found the Devil " out in the cold " — a hideous black 
figure, easily recognized as the Evil One, set upon a pedestal 
just outside the door. Within were two enormous "Joshes" 
ten feet high, one in each corner, and over them a shelf filled 
Avith little household gods, two feet or so in length, while behind 
the altar the Boodhist priests and attendant boys were going 
througli a ceremony very similar to High Mass. The Bood- 
hists, like the Mormons, believe in a regular gradation of gods, 
rising one above another to the great head god, whom the Mor- 
mons call Eloheim, and the Chinese "Top-side Josh." 

Outside, booths with, open front were erected, in whicli vari- 
ous plays were being performed in choice Tartar, the view free 
to the crowd. This continued till midnight, when a general 
chorus of priests and bands announced the close of the festi- 
val?), and a torch was applied to the Devil. The figure, 
which proved to be full of fire-crackers, " went off" in brilliant 
style till nothing was left apparently but the hideous head and 
back-bone; these then shot upward like a huge Roman cundle, 
k>aving a trail of blue fire, and exploded high in the air with a 
loud report, followed by a shower of sparks and insufferable 



THE DEVIL GOXE UP. 



181 




AH CHIXG'S THEOLOGY. 



stench — and that was supposed to be the last of the Devil for 
another year. 

Poor Heathen ! They iuive no such simple devices as horse- 
shoes and sieves, nailed to the stable-door, or stuck up over the 
bed, nor any of the civilized contrivances known to our own en- 
lightened rustics ; and so they trust to keep off Satan's agents 
with inexplicable dumb show and noise. 

Turning away with a feeling of relief that the Devil was 
gone at last, I encountered Ah Ching, our Mongolian laundry- 
man at the Pacific Hotel, who s[)oke some English, and had an 
intellect that was " not to be sneezed at," of whom I soujiht 
information, and received it thus : 

" Hallo, John, do you believe in him?" 



182 



" PIGEON-ENGLISH." 



" Oh, velley, Melica man, me believe him." 

" All Chinamen believe in him?" 

" Oh, China like Melica man. Some believe him, sahvey ; 
some tink him all gosh damn." 

And I felt that I was answered. 

I went next to San Francisco and remained ten days; 
but as the subject is a large one, I beg leave to reserve luy 
notes upon that city, which will be found under the appro- 
priate heading. 

Note : — The word " Jesh," or " Joss," is not Chinese, but " Pigeon-English," 
a language used in the jiorts of China. It results from speaking English with 
Chinese idioms, and contains also a number of new words fabricated by sailors 
and traders. 





^.^^v- i^"^..;:t-^ 







ENTRANCE TO THE QUICKSILVER MINE OF NEW ALMADEN, CAL. 




CHAPTER XI. 

UTAH AGAIN. 

Elected defendant— Utah law— Polygamons judges— Trial at Brigham City— 
Assault on the author — Skillful surgery — Rapid recovery — " Write a history 
of the Mormons ! "—Visit the East— Return to Utah— Political— Bear River 
canal scheme — Author goes to Washington — Miseries of a lobbyist — Election 
of 1870— Gen. Geo. R. Maxwell— Debate on polygamy— C'tti bono? — Mormon 
morals and Gentile associations. 

jHILE I was enjoying myself amid the soft airs of the 
Pacific, a beautiful mess of trouble was preparing for 
me in Utah. In most of the Territories it is "Your 
money or your life ; " but in Utah a Gentile was after 
my property, and the Mormons seeking my life. Be- 
tween them they got the first, and came very near getting the 
second. 

As I previously stated, I had originally two partners in 
the Reporter, both of whom sold out to one man ; and in a 
month he and I quarreled about the policy of the paper. Dur- 
ing my absence he had fixed up a case under the peculiar attach- 
ment laws of Utah, and by the merest accident I received a 
copy of the paper containing the legal notice. Taking the 
train at once I reached Corinne the day before the trial, which 
was to take place at Brigham City, the county seat, on Monday, 
November first. My journal was now in the regular condition 
of half the Rocky Mountain papers : struggle, debt, and litigation 
make up their chronic condition, and failure their normal end. 

But in this case the beauties of Utah law were to be elegantly 
illustrated. Here was a suit between a Gentile and an "apostate 
Mormon," who had to leave their own town and go before 
a polygamous judge, an English Mormon, living in violation 
alike of the laws of Congress and the codes of Moses and Ma- 

183 



184 "knocked out of time." 

hornet. For this Judge — Bishop Elias Smith, of Boxelder 
County — is not only the husband of six wives, but two of thcni 
are his cousins, and two the daughters of his own brother. 
These facts are notorious in Utah ; and I am informed, though 
of this I am not positive, tiiat tiie girls were " sealed " to their 
uncle by Brigham Young against the protest of their father' ! 
From the biography of this Judge, and a few of his colleagues 
in Utah, the reader may understand the late telegrams to the 
effect that the Gentiles are looking anxiously for some action 
by Congress w^hich shall lessen the power of these Probate 
or County Judges, and bring all important cases before the 
U. S. District Judges. 

A few weeks before, I had published a severe criticism of 
this Judo-e Smith. His "strikers" now had me at Court as 
defendant, in a town of twelve hundred Mormons, and only 
half a dozen Gentiles with me. The facts brought out on trial 
were so clearly in my favor that I gained the suit. About 
sundown I started with the crowd to pass out of the Court 
House, and was just stei)ping off the portico when I heard 
the v;ords, "You're the man that wrote that lie about my 
father," and at the same instant received a violent blow on 
the back of the neck and head, which sent me upon my face on 
the gravel walk. I remember nothing more than a succession 
of blows followed by the trampling of heavy boots, and next I 
was being raised by my friends, covered with blood, and only 
not quite senseless. I was hauled seven miles to Corinne, 
where a medical examination showed that my collar-bone was 
broken in two places, my temple badly cut, and right eye 
injured, a section of my scalp torn off, and a few internal in- 
juries received. 

Then took place what has always appeared to me a mirac^le 
of surgery, or of the healing force of nature. Dr. J. W. Graham 
dressed my wounds, -set my fractures, and placed me flat on my 
back in bed, with instructions that I must "lie just so for three 
weeks." But the second day thereafter I grew so nervous that 
he decided the confinement so long would kill me, and invented 
a new process. Assisted by Dr. O. D. Cass, who ceased for 



A HEALING AIR. 



185 




THE AUTHOR KECEIVES MORMON HOSPITALITY. 



the time to speculate on the " certain future greatness of Co- 
rinne," he constructed a perfect strait-jacket, in which I was 
encased ; both arms were stuck tight to my body with adlie- 
sive strips, my right arm below the elbow only being free, and 
in that stringent condition I walked about Corinne for four 
weeks. With all these wounds I was in bed two nights and a 
day; in ten days my head showed only a deep and permanent 
white scar, and in five weeks I was able to travel. I had 
heard much of the rapidity with which wounds heal in the 
elevated regions of the Far West, but my case seemed most 
extraordinary. 

But notwithstanding my good luck, I have no desire to try it 
again, though repeatedly assured by the dignitaries at Brig- 
ham that mine was an unusual case. 



186 MORMON JUSTICE. 

It turned out that my principal assailant was the son of 
Judge Smith. He was arrested by the city authorities (Mor- 
mon), taken before the mayor, and Jiiied Jive dollars! It is well 
known in such cases in Utah, that the fine is very seldom paid. 
Two years afterwards a Gentile lawyer of Salt Lake, W. R. 
Keithley, having been abused in tiie Ogden Junction, a Mor- 
mon journal, attacked the editor and struck him two blows 
with a cane, doing no particular damage. He was ])roinptly 
arrested, taken before Justice Clinton, fined one hundred dol- 
lars, and put under bonds of four hundred to keep the peace. 
That is about the percentage of difference between justice to the 
Gentile and the Saint in Utah. But let us be candid on this 
subject. It is nothing more than we ought reasonably to ex- 
pect, when a whole community are of one religious faith, and 
that of a debasing kind, bound together by the strongest ties, 
with unanimous vote and nearly absolute political power; and 
if seventy-five thousand Scotch Covenanters, Primitive Metho- 
dists, or any sect of foreigners or people not generally educated 
in liberal politics, had complete possession of any Territory, I 
suspect they would make it uncommonly lively for dissenters. 
Indeed, it is evident in the West that a single town occupied 
entirely or generally by people of one sect, rapidly tends to 
grow intolerant and absurdly exclusive. 

Some think, or profess to think, that all religious sects should 
become one. I hope it will not be in my time. For I am con- 
vinced that, in the present imperfect condition of man, a multi- 
plicity of sects, each much weaker than all tiie others combined, 
and compelled by common weakness to mutual tolerance, is our 
best security for civil liberty ; and the day that sees a hint at 
any form of religion inserted in the Constitution, marks the 
beginning of liberty's decline. New sects always preach the 
New Testament till they get into power, then jump it and go 
back to the Old Testament for precedents. So the Mormons, 
who first preached a mixture of Campbell's doctrines and 
Primitive Methodism, now rarely quote Christ and the Apos- 
tles; their trusted exemplars are the patriaix'h who married his 
half sister^ and took a "dark Egyptian" for his concubine, the 



ANCIENT PRECEDENTS. 



187 




ORSON HYDE, PRESIDENT OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 



warrior who hewed captive kings in pieces, the missionaries 
who exterminated the Canaanites, the priest who slaughtered 
idolaters, and the prophet who hewed up Agag, varied by 
occasional exhortations on the piety of that woman who cut off 
Holofernes' head, or that other who with a tent nail did the 
business for Sisera, 

The critical may insist that this is a long sermon on a short 
text, but as I never got satisfaction for my pounding in Utah, 
I now purpose to take it out of the suffering public. I have 
often observed in the West the curious flict that those sects which 
need toleration the most, are least willing to extend it. AVhen 
the ]\Iormons were a suffering minority, their Plea for Tolera- 
tion would have made Locke and Milton turn in their graves 
for envy, or weep with sorrow that they died two hundred years 
ago ; but when they obtained the rule of a whole Territory, 
they suddenly became convinced of the necessity of " putting 
down the enemies of God, that the sinners in Zion miglit be 
afraid." A worried dog turning on his tormentors, a mad bull 



188 



I TURN AUTHOR. 



charging his enemies, or fierce watch-dogs tearing in pieces the 
wolves which come near the fold, were the models they proposed 
for themselves in sermons still extant. Twenty years of such 
power made it seem to them indeed " the rule of God's priest- 
hood," and to dissent was rebellion against heaven, worthy of the 
fate of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. No wonder, I say, that 
they felt impelled to sacrifice the first of us who attacked their 
system. The only wonder is, that some, who call themselves 
statesmen, should want to revive a fanatic power by giving 
the Mormons a State government. Such should read a few 

of Apo.'^tle Orson 
Hyde's sermons, as 
published in the 
Mormon " Journal 
of Discourses." 

I was once more 
fit for business. But 
my investments in 
Corinne had proved 
failures. The town 
had gone down and 
the paper with it. 
The lawsuit de- 
stroyed half the 
value that remained ; 
I sold out for a pittance, and every dollar of it was required 
to pay for bone-setting and expenses of convalescence. Fifteeu 
months had passed since I entered Utah, and I was poorer 
than ever — "down to bed-rock and couldn't show color." 
Disconsolately I sauntered down the street till I met my friend 
Spicer, to whom my despondency found utterance: "Judge, 
what the mischief sliall I do? " Promptly, and with the con- 
viction of inspiration, came the answer : " Write a history of 
the Mormons; you are the only Gentile who can do it." Now 
this had suggested itself to my own mind, and but one encour- 
aging voice was needed. I went resolutely to work, and in ten 
weeks had the history completed. 




DOMESTICATED PIUTE. 



CORINNE. 



189 



' About that time, fortunate- 
ly, the Mormons began to at- 
tract public attention, and I 
soon found a publisher. I was 
despondent till the last, for it 
seemed to nie no good could 
come out of Utah ; but, to my 
surprise, the book rose with a 
bound to the hight of popular 
favor, and I soon felt the ex- 
quisite joys of authorship — 
handling the dividends, AYitli 
these came a sense of power, 
renewed confidence, and a long- 
ing to get back to Utah, and 
engage once more in the old 
contests. So I returned to 
Corinne in April, 1870. 

Things had changed, and 
were clianging faster. The 
mining era had just begun, and 
the Gentile interest was in- 
creasing. The merchants who 
had fled before the face of 
Brigham, began to return, and 
it was estimated that the non- 
Mormon |X)pulation had dou- 
bled in a few months. The 
Liberal Party had been form- 
ally organized ; Congress had 
shown a disposition to attend to 
the wants of the Territory, 
better officials had been ap- 
pointed, and the star of the 
Gentiles was once more in the 
ascendant. 

Corinne again had hopes, for 









i>» 



li'l 







190 SENT TO WASHINGTOX. 

the hard year of 18G9 was succeeded by better times in Idalio 
and Montana. There never was so dull a period in the moun- 
tains as the eight months following the laying of tlie last rail. 
Men had to get down from mountain prices to raih'oad prices, 
and the general disappointment made business men sick and 
hopeless. It is a well-ascertained fact that the Far West lost 
both population and capital the year the railroad was completed, 
instead of gaining either. (Everywhere west of Omaha the 
railroad means, of course, the Pacific Railroad.) 

In 1870 there was six times as much freight shipped from 
Corinne to Montana and Idaho as in 18G9. Everybody thought 
that the next year would be " even as this, and much more 
abundant," and speculation Avas more lively than ever. Corinne 
organized a company to irrigate a hundred thousand acres of 
land in Bear River Valley by one main canal, to be taken out 
from the rapids at the last canon ; and the writer was sent to 
Washington to get the company incorporated, and secure a small 
grant of the land to aid in the work. As we only asked two 
sections per mile, and of land which the Government would not 
sell in a thousand years without, the canal, it scarcely entered 
our heads to doubt immediate success. It was then I learned 
the miseries of a lobbyist. 

Said my constituents to me thus confidently : " All those men 
want is just to understand the necessity and reason of this thing. 
You understand the mode of farming in this country. Now, 
just go down there and explain it to 'em, and she'll go through 
in a week. Whv, the modesty of the request will insure its 
success. And tell 'cm we intend to get in here a Gentile colony 
of a few thousands, and you've got 'em." 

I did not find modesty at sucli a remarkable premium in 
Washington. I might, with much better success, have asked 
for ten thousand sections than the sixty I did ask for. I found 
there about five thousand other fellows with '' modest requests," 
and as it was my first visit to Washington, I Mas but poorly 
"lieeled" for the work. I soon found, too, that a man from 
the Territories is of very little conscquen(!e ; he has no vote for 
Cono-ressman or Governor, and none for a man who has a vote 



MY LITTLE BILL. 191 

for Senator, and consequently the political strings he can pull 
are decidedly limited. I found that, first of all, my bill must 
be ap[)roved in committee — the Committee of Public Lands — 
then it must be approved by the "committee of the other 
House ;" then it must be introduced, then referred, then ordered 
printed, then passed to a third reading, and at the end of all 
this labor, it would be "on the calendar to take its chances," and 
the real work would begin. Then some member must call it 
up, with unanimous consent, and if nothing else was pressing, 
and nobody "objected," it would come to a vote. 

With a recklessness born of western life I addressed myself 
to the task of persuading each individual member of both 
Houses. Obviously there was no money in the scheme; so the 
newspapers couldn't call it a "job," and my arguments were at 
least received without suspicion. After one month's exhausting 
labor I got a hearing before the Senate Committee on Public 
Lands; at the end of another month my bill was introduced by 
Senator Williams of Oregon, read by title, and ordered printed. 
Then said the Senator, " Go home, and wait till after the elec- 
tions; members then will not be so afraid of a little land grant." 

I returned in December. The elections had weakened the 
Republican party, and land grants were thought to be among 
the chief causes. Everybody began to "hedge" at once, and 
talk against all grants big or little; the tide had turned and was 
setting the other way too strong to be resisted, and, as on the 
previous flood many unworthy schemes had gone through with 
the worthy, so on the present ebb, many really worthy ones were 
defeated. 

For mouths I danced attendance on the committees; waited 
and sought interviews with members, and cooled my heels in 
the ante-chambers of official greatness. After two trips to 
Washington and five months' work, I had got the bill "on the 
calendar," and now it only wanted a champion to call it up. 
Senator Warner, of Alabama, whether from intelligent interest 
in the scheme, or to get rid of my importunities, I know not, 
twice tried to bring it forward : both times, I, from the gallery, 
heard the ominous " I object." Surely lobbyists are a need- 



192 



NO PLACE FOR ME. 




THE SENATOR IS ENGAGED. SAH." 



lessly abused class ; if their experience is like mine they earn 
all they get. No man accustomed only to associate with equals, 
is fit for a lobbyist. No man from a Territory can work long 
for any measure before Congress, and retain his self-respect. 
To wait an hoar in an ante-chamber, then to hand your card to a 
negro, and be told " the Senator is engaged, Sah," and wait another 
hour, then enter the awful presence and ask a favor which you 
cannot repay with a vote, is poison to the sonl of a monntaineer. 

Who would condescend to dance attendance on men, whom he 
must secretly despise, Avhen the best land in the West costs next 
to nothing, and grubbing hoes but two dollars apiece? 

But there came a day especially appropriated to the Com- 
mittee on Public Lands. One after another thev called up and 
passed the bills they had reported favorably, until but two more 



FATE OF A LOBBYIST. 193 

remained before they reached ours; and from the gallery I list- 
ened eagerly and watched the clock, which marked only forty 
minutes to "adjournment." 

The Colorado Railway Bill M-as called ; one clause was " ob- 
jected to ;" a debate followed and the Senate adjourned, when 
ten minutes more would have sufficed for us, and I walked out 
feeling, like the cynical politician, that republican government 
was a failure, and I should like to j)lant a ton of j)owder under 
the rotunda, blow the Capitol to atoms, and pound the head of 
the Goddess of Liberty. 

So Corinne did not get her canal. But the next Congress 
she started the matter again, and having the friendship of six 
Senators instead of one, at the end of the long session, they had 
the bill once more "on the calendar," just where I left it. 

Early in the session of 1825, a young man from the interior 
of New Jersey rode up in front of a hotel, long since destroyed, 
a few rods east of the Capitol, and hitched his horse. Being 
told he had better have the animal put up, he replied, "No, it 
aint worth while, I have a little claim on the Government; it's 
all correct, and there's no doubt about my papers, so it'll take 
but an hour or two." Annoyed by the quizzical smile of the 
landlord, he swore he would not leave Washington or unhitch 
his horse till that claim was allowed and ordered paid. In an 
obscure boarding house in Georgetown may now be seen a ven- 
erable grayhoaded man. The excavations two years since for 
the new block on A street, brou<rht to liirht the crumblins: skel- 
eton of a horse and fragments of iron stirrups. They told the 
tale of a lobbyist — and his horse. I sought him out, and as I 
extended my hand in sympathy, a smile of hope illuminated the 
withered features, and he informed me he had secured the friend- 
ship of the Senators from Kansas and Nevada, and was confident 
his claim would go through next session. He would then bid 
Washington a tearful adieu, and return to spend a green old ago 
in Jersey. Young men of America, let this case point an awful 
moral ; and keej) away from Washington. 

From my first trip to the Capital, I returned to find Utah 
hot with the excitement of a political campaign, which resulted 
13 



194 EXPEEIENCED POLYGAMISTS. 

ill giving Gen. Geo. R. Maxwell, the Liberal candidate for Con- 
gress, some two thousand votes. For the rest of the season I 
alternately traveled in the newly-opened mines of Utah, of 
which journeys the results appear elsewhere, and edited the 
Corinne Reporter. We had one rare episode that summer — the 
debate on Bible polygamy between Rev. J. P. Newman and 
Apostle Orson Pratt. It turned entirely on the Old Testament, 
and always appeared to me like a huge burlesque. Why not 
argue the morality and expediency of circumcision, slaughtering 
the heathen, or any other of the forty things done by the ancient 
Jews? If a man once admits that that people were for our ex- 
ample, he involves himself in a tangle from which no logic can 
extricate him. 

There are some things that a civilized man ougnt to know by 
nature ; if he does not know them, no argument you can use 
will ever reach down to him. He ought to know that the free, 
honestly sought love of one good woman is a thousand times 
more valuable than the constrained embraces of fifty ; and if he 
does not know it, why waste time in arguments which he cannot 
understand? Solomon, after possessing for many years a thou- 
sand women, thus gives in his experience: " One man among 
a thousand have I found, but a woman among all these have I 
not found. . . . And I find more bitter than death the woman 
whose heart is snares and nets. . . . Live joyfully with the 
loife whom thou lovest all the days of thy life, of thy vanity 
given thee under the sun." — Ecclesiastcs. 

And Brigham Young, with two houses full of women, says in 
one of his sermons, "If polygamy is any harder on them (the 
women) than it is on the men, God help them." 

The general summary to my mind is, that the polygamlst is 
truly to be pitied, having robbed himself of a pure pleasure to 
wallow in sensuality. But long after polygamy shall have died 
out, or been abolished, the other evils of JSIormonism will affect 
society in Utah. 

The great evil which is long to trouble Utah, is the terrible 
effect the past has had upon the young, the legitimate result of 
Mormon Jesuitism. Beyond all question it has been an estab- 



NATURALIZATIOX. 



195 




BRIGHAM YOUNG'S RESIDENCES, SALT LAKE CITY. 



lished tenet of Mormonism that, where the interests of the 
Church were concerned, it was perfectly right to deceive the 
Gentile. Take naturalization for instance. Many Mormons 
came up at the terms of the United States District Court in 
1870 and '71, and solemnly swore that they were not polyga- 
mists, and did not intend to become such, forswearing a prime 
principle of their faith, and undoubtedly committing moral per- 
jury, in order to become voters. They openly justify this, and 
here is their mode of reasoning: " If a man seeks my life, I am 
right to use any means otherwise unlawful to defend it. The 
same is true of attacks upon my liberty or personal rights; that 
which would otherwise be wrong becomes right in self-defence. 
The Federal judges have set up an unjust rule to take away my 
rights as a citizen, and I am justified in any means to defeat 
their aim. The judge has no right to ask such a question of 
the Saints." Twenty years' prevalence of such principles must 
weaken the moral perceptions, and soon affect others who come 
to liv'e among them. Some Jews and Gentiles, too, often think 
it necessary to descend to the same low level and fight with the 
same weapons; for, if they do not, they are at a disadvantage. 

Hence society in general becomes demoralized. The material 
future of Utah is bright; of her moral and social future I have 



196 



RELIGIOUS LYING IN UTAH. 



serious doubts. Slie seems destined to universal infidelity. 
Mormonisin dies away; no (jther faith takes its ])lac;e ; the young 
Saints as soon as they grow up divide into two bodies — Spirit- 
ualists and infidels — and the Territory bids fair to become the 
common hunting ground of every ism suggested by a heterodox 
and fertile fancy. Let what may happen, the residence of the 
INIormons will have left in the country a general uncertainty of 
ideas and a laxity of moral princi])le which will not be eflPaced 
in less than a generation ; perhaps not even then, or until they 
k'liru bv dire experience that the way of the transgressor is 
hard. Religious lying seems to have been reduced to a science, 
and religious lying is the worst of all lying. Thus it stands in 
Utah : the Jews lie for gain, the Gentiles from association, and 
the Mormons for Christ's sake. 




MORMON BAPTISM. 



CHAPTER XII. 



I START AGAIN. 

Another misfortune and change of scene — Kansas City — Lawrence — Early 
tragedies — Later horrors — Last great success — Southward — Ottawa — " Don't 
mention it, Deacon" — Franklin County — Anderson — Ozark Ridge — Allen 
County — Tola — Western enterprise — Montgomery County — Beautiful Mounds 
— Cberryvale — Northward — A modern Methuselah — Troy — Ready to rej^ort. 



HAVE to request that the courteous reader will make a 
big jump, from the conclusion of the last chapter — of 
eight months in time, and out of Utah into Kansas. 

As previously stated, I went to Washington in De- 
cember, 1870, and remained three months, as agent of 
the Bear River Canal Company. I returned to-Corinne with a 
painful disease of the eyes, Avhich I thought not serious enough 
to prevent a trip to the mines of Little Cottonwood. From 
that journey I returned to Salt Lake City with both eyes swollen 
almost out of my head, and for six weeks lay on my back in a 
darkened rooni, fighting off blindness. Through the combined 
skill of Doctors Fowler and Vollum of that place, I recovered 
sufficiently to reach Cincinnati, and was put under the treatment 
of the renowned oculist. Professor E. Williams. Having 
learned a little wisdom by severe experience, I did not start 
again till he gave me leave, which he did on the 1st of July, 
187L 

This time I thought I would see something of the Missouri 
Valley, and on the 6th of that month left St. Louis in company 
with a journalist companion, by the Missouri Pacific. Indiana 
and Illinois were, when I left them, in the eighteenth month of 
an almost continuous drought; but across the Mississippi, the 

197 



198 ANOTHER OMAHA. 

evidences of rain and greater fertility increased as we moved 
westward. At Kansas City the Missouri Pacific ceases, and 
the Kansas Pacific begins, though the track is continuous ; and 
"Nve halted for a day's rest. If Shadrach & Co. rested in Neb's 
furnace, then we rested at Kansas City. The heat was simply 
fearful, beyond all scope of dictionary terms. I don't wonder 
the ancient Persians worshipped the sun : it was worth while, 
if one could thus soften his rays, and it almost seems to me that 
the moderns will, return to that belief. Certainly, if 1 ever 
turn heathen, I will become a Luminarian. 

Kansas City is a second Omaha, lifted up and moved two 
hundred and fifty miles south, and set down on eleven hills, 
from fifty to one hundred and fifty feet high, and with bluffs 
east, north, and west. It is the place where people come to 
scatter out — the starting point and toll-house to Kansas, New 
Mexico and the Indian Territory, as Omaha is to the Northwest. 
Thus set upon a hill, with real estate on the edge, it logically 
follows that there is twice as much profit in lands; so, at least, 
the people reason, judging from the price of lots. Still, real 
estate men assured us there was yet a chance for moneyed men, 
and a few choice lots can even now be had for cash almost as 
cheap as in Cincinnati. The people of Kansas City all looked, 
to my eye, as if they were expecting something to turn up. 
They are nearer heaven locally than morally, for the social 
and unsocial evils equally abound. But they are a little ahead 
of Omaha in hotels. They are satisfied to " size your pile " and 
take quarter of it. while farther north the aim is to take half or 
two-thirds. 

That night we ran out to Lawrence, the Athens of the AVest, 
a town of romantic history, delightful to dwell in, of which, 
though so often described, many good, and some new, things 
might be said. Its history is the leading romance of Kansas. 

In the summer of 1849, a party of gold hunters from "away 
down East," borne along with the flow of that year to Califor- 
nia, encamped for a night near the junction of the Kaw and 
Wakarusa, where the level prairie of the low valley begins to 
give way to higher ridges and rolling plains. Intelligent men 



A HISTORIC CITY. 199 

and lovers of the beautiful, they were enchanted with the pros- 
pect, and their leader vowed that if California gave him a 
ibrtune, he would some day make this spot his home. He re- 
turned to Massachusetts in 1853, interested his friends in Boston, 
and by the time Kansas was open to the whites by law, the place 
was already marked as the destined location of a Massachusetts 
colony. 

The Kansas-Nebraska Act became a law early in 1854, open- 
ing this section to settlement, and to slavery, 

" The direful sjjring 

Of \yoes unnumbered." 

The North, beaten in Congress, transferred the conflict to this 
soil, and by the time the Act received the signature of Pierce, 
Boston was organizing Emigrant Aid Societies, and in the first 
formed were several of our California emigrants. Early in '54, 
Mr. C. H. Branscomb, of Boston, was sent here, reported favor- 
ably upon this site, and ei-ected the first " habitable dwelling." 
The first party, of thirty persons, arrived in August, followed 
by two other parties late in the fall ; a town was laid out, called 
after Amos Lawrence, and by winter contained a population o-f 
200. Log, "shake," pole and sod houses then constituted 
Lawrence, a lone settlement of " Free State Men," forty miles 
from the slave border — a star of hope and advancing freedom. 
The "Pioneer House" was "all roof and gable," consisting of 
long poles joined at the top like rafters, with the other ends on 
the ground, covered with sod, a sort of improved wigwam. It 
gave way next spring to the Free State Hotel, burned by Sheriif 
Jones ; on the same spot was erected the Eld ridge House, num- 
ber one, destroyed by Quantrel ; then came the Eldridge House, 
number, two, from the upper windows of which we look down 
upon the crossing of Massachusetts and Ohio streets, on a scene 
of busy commerce, in the business center of a city of twelve 
thousand people. 

We are on historic ground here. Lawrence has an ancient, a 
modern, and a mediaeval period. Yes, I may add, a mythical 
and heroic age. The city suffered four regular invasions from 
Missouri in its first three vears. ISIarch 30, 1855, the "border 



200 



BORDER WARS. 




FIRST IIOTKL IN LAAVRENCE. 



ruffians " came and made a population of nine liundred and 
sixty-two appear to casta vote of one tliousaml and tliirty-four. 
This is better than even the Mormons can now do ; their vote 
sohlom runs over a third of the whole population. In Novem- 
ber, 1855, occurred the " Wakarusa War," in consequence of 
the Free State men refusing to recognize the justices elected by 
the '•' border ruffians ; " the city was regularly invested, and 
Barber and others killed. May 21, 1856, SheriflP Jones '' exe- 
(!uted the writ " of Judge Lecompte, burned the Free State 
Hotel and pillaged the town. In August, 1850, some twenty- 
eight hundred " border ruffians" invested the ])lace, but failed 
to attack, as it had grown too strong to be captured without a 
fight. 

Better times soon followed. The Free State men got control 
of Kansas; the I^egislature refused to consider Lecomplon the 
Capital, and met regularly at Lawrence, which was virtually 
the Capital for three years. The ''depression" of 1857 fol- 



" CHIVALRY." 201 

lowed, and Lawrence declined for two years. There were fewer 
people here in 1860 tiian in 1857. But the country adjacent 
was rapidly developing; people ceased to look for the "spring 
emigration" as their only chance to make money, and a more 
legitimate and healthy growth began. Early in 18G3 the State 
University was located here, and the Kaw was bridged, both 
adding greatly to the prospects of the town, which had a popu- 
lation of nearly three thousand in August, 1863. Then came 
the last, most cruel blow. 

Occasional rumors of invasion from Missouri had ao-itated 
the city, but all had ceased, and Lawrence never felt more 
secure than on the evening of August 20, 1863. Even the 
little guard of Federal troops had been ordered away by the 
District Commander at Kansas City. At 2 p.m. of the 20th, 
Quantrel assembled his band in Missouri; between 5 and 
6 p.m. they crossed the border, and made directly for Law- 
rence, sending out scouts to guard all the roads and turn back 
all who might carry information. At the first glimmer of day 
they were seen passing through Franklin, a few miles south- 
east ; at sunrise they were here. They sent a squad to Uni- 
versity Hill, west of the city, to guard against surprise from 
that direction, and parties of two or three each took position at 
the principal points in the city, so quietly that those who saw 
them had not a suspicion of their designs. Then, just as most 
of the citizens were rising from their beds, the main b(.dv 
dashed into the town yelling like savages, and began the work 
of destruction. 

In two hours seventy-five business houses on jNIassachusetts 
Street, and all the central part of the city, were in flames, and 
one hundred and twenty-five citizens lay dead among the ruins 
or upon the streets. Many were horribly mutilated. At one 
house two men were killed, and in the presence of their shriek- 
ing wives their heads were cut off and stuck upon the gate. 
Those who died of their wounds brought the number of slain 
up to a hundred and forty-three. The brutality of tiie gue- 
rillas was only equaled by their cowardice. When resistance 
was made from any stone building they at once retreated, and 
many were thus saved. 



202 "twin relics." 

All this is old, says the critic. Yes, it is ten years past, and we 
hear much of the political duty of" ibrgetting. But it is well to 
refresh the public memory sometimes, that tlie younger class of 
Americans may not entirely forget just what it costs to tolerate 
a relic of barbarism in a Kepublic, or give power to its su])- 
porters. Slavery raised up a set of men capable of this trans- 
action, as polygamy made a community capable of the Moun- 
tain Meadow massacre. AVhen the politics or religion of a 
people teach them to disregard the rights and happiness of one 
class, they will soon come to look upon all the "outside and 
Gentile world" as lawful prey. One of the "twin relics" is 
extirpated from American soil; the other now knocks at the 
door of Congress, and asks only the political power of a State. 
The noted camel of classic fable only asked that he might put 
his head in at the door ; the result was that those who did not 
like that camel's society might vacate the premises. 

Lawrence survived — a martyr city in the cause of freedom. 
"When I jirst visited the place, in the autumn of 1867, there were 
still traces of Quantrcl's raid. The city appears to me to have 
nearly doubled in size since that visit, and present improvements 
indicate that she is still growing rapidly. She has the trade of 
an agricultural population of thirty thousand, and a growing 
importance as the junction of the Leavenworth, Lawrence and 
Galveston Railroad with the Kansas Pacific. The new State 
University is completed, and ranks among the very best in the 
West. Lawrence is the intellectual center of the Missouri Val- 
ley, probably the only city in the Far West that can boast an 
average intelligence and education equal to any in New Eng- 
land. Ten churches indicate that the religious element is pow- 
erful. Two daily, two semi-weekly, and four weekly papers, 
well supported, indicate that there is a reading population here 
and hereabout. Lawrence is one of the very few places I see 
in my western wanderings at which I always want to stop and 
take up my residence. It is to be the Athens of the West. 

Thence we took the Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston 
Railroad, now completed to Parker, on the line of the Indian 
Territory. The main offices are at Lawrence, but it is said the 



NEW RAILROADS. 203 

real terminus is at Kansas City, from which there is a branch 
connecting with this at Ottawa, thirty miles south of Lawrence, 
on the Marais des Cygnes, in Franklin County. The history 
of these roads is a little curious. *' Joy's road," as it was, now 
known as the Missouri River, Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad, runs 
nearly straight south through the eastern tier of counties, in a 
few places within five miles of the Missouri line, and is })opular]y 
known here as the " border tier road." It passes through Fort 
Scott to Baxter Springs, the present terminus. AVhen the same 
]>arties obtained control of the Leavenworth, Lawrence and 
Galveston road, the terminus of which was then but a little 
south of Lawrence, the Kansas Pacific charged them such ruin- 
ous rates for transporting their iron over the little distance to 
Lawrence, that they found it cheaper to send it north to Leaven- 
worth, and ship the remaining distance over their own road. 
A further calculation, however, showed it would be cheaper to 
build a line of connection from Kansas City, which was done in 
a few weeks, and the Ottawa branch is the result. 

By the charters, the road which first reached the Indian Ter- 
ritory would be the only one entitled to pass through it, and 
Joy was first in the race until he reached the noted " Joy Pur- 
chase," when hostilities so hindered his progress that he aban- 
doned that scheme and bought a controlling interest in the 
Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston. Lately, however, he 
has retired from this road. 

At noon of a scorching day we moved out of Lawrence 
and through a beautiful grove of elm, black walnut, ash, and 
hackberry, southward into the valley of the Wakarusa. The 
rich dark green of grass and corn, the entire absence of dust, and 
the water standing in the furrows, indicated that this had been 
the rainiest season Kansas ever knew; all this was confirmed by 
the local testimony. Have Kansas and the Wabash Valley traded 
climates for the time? It seems so. The bottom-lands of this 
valley are mostly in corn, the slopes in wheat and corn, while 
for miles away extend beautiful rolling lands, covered with 
rich prairie grasses, and a variety of plants, the whole present- 
ing a strange mingling of the feature of Northern and Southern 



204 SHARP TRADERS. 

farms, corresponding to the peculiar mild climate which charac- 
terizes this section. 

Being in the "agricultural report" line, we made a short 
stop at Ottawa, one of the " magic cities" of Kansas. Located 
in 1864, it now has a population of nearly four thousand, has two 
railroads and two more in course of construction. We found 
the citizens a decidedly lively people, but slightly prone to large 
talking — poloquence, I might call it. To them might appro- 
priately be applied a bon mot of Sidney Smith's. Said a friend 
to him, speaking of a mutual acquaintance: "Thomson is a 
good fellow, a real entertaining fellow, but you must believe 
only half he says." "Certainly," was the reply, "hut which 
half?" It is easier to tell which half to believe at Ottawa. 
But if you locate there, stay long enough to get acquainted 
before you go into trade. 

In the early days a popular clergyman of that city sold a 
" blooded mare," as he averred, to one of his deacons. Shortly 
after the deacon observed some motions in his new property he 
did not like, and sought the minister's study with, "Brother K., 
the mare I got of you is very stiff in the shoulders." Drawing 
a fine Partaga from between his lips, the reverend coolly re- 
plied : "Better not tell that, deacon ; it might injure the sale 
of her." New light broke in on the deacon. He "farewelled" 
and took his leave. The minister, however, had a weakness 
for " blooded sheep," and a prominent banker, afterward Lieu- 
tenant-Governor of Kansas, took advantage of it, and sold him 
two fine-looking rams, of common stock, at $150 each. He M'as 
to be paid in town lots, at a value appraised by two prominent 
citizens. They learned of the "blooded sheep" trick, and rated 
the lots at five times their actual value, adding at the bottom 
of the appraisement this item : " Fees, $10." The banker ran 
down the list to the "fees," and tapping it significantly, re- 
marked : " That is the only reasonable thing on this paper. 
That charge I will pay. As for the rest, the preacher's got his 
rams, and may go to with them." 

South of the ]\Iarais des Cygnes, or "Swan Marsh," we run 
for ten miles on the Ozark Ridge, so called by the settlers, 



RIDGE LANDS. 

!'';!niiii:ii!!!!!i!ii'ii:iiiiiiiiii;ii,i;::!i!fi'i;ii!i'!';ii!iwi., 



205 










#iA^^fc^^^^ -^# 



"don't mention it, deacon." 

who tell us it is a spur from the Ozark Mountains. In all the 
cuts I observe the rock just below the surface — not in ledges or 
boulders, but in successive layers of thin and narrow stones, not 
so compact but that the plow could be forced through them. 
"Buffalo stamps," are tracts of hard blue soil, supposed to be 
due, originally, to the })resence of alkali and saline properties in 
the ffrouiul, causinir numbers of buffalo to crowd together, lick- 
ing and stamping the life out of the soil. It is a curious fact 
that our domestic cattle, imported to Kansas, no n)atter how 
well supplied with salt, soon acquire the same habit, not licking 
the soil, but crowding and stamping upon the same spots. In 
such places the grass is very short, wiry and thick, looking like 
green hair, if such a comparison be at all allowable. Some 
people here say that it is really the best of land, and that after 
being broken up and sown in wheat a few years, it will become 
extremely fertile; but I will wait awhile and see results before 
endorsinsr that oniniou. 



206 SOUTHERN KANSAS. 

The Marals des Cygnes Iliver is bordered most of its course 
by considerable forests of good timber. Franklin probably 
contains the least proportion of waste land of any county in 
southern Kansas. With an area of 572 square miles, it has a 
population (1870) of only 12,000; this in a country where every 
eighty-acre lot will support a family in affluence, with a com- 
mercial population half as large as the agricultural, and with no 
more manufacturing than -is incident to a farming community. 
It is evident, then, that there is room in Franklin for ten thou- 
sand more. But already considerable tracts of the best land are 
in the hands of non-residents, who hold them a little too high 
to encourage rapid settlement. This railroad has no largo 
amount of land in Franklin — at least nothing like as large as 
in the counties south. The Leavenworth, Lawrence and Gal- 
veston seems to be more fortunate in its land grant than either 
of the other Kansas roads. The Fort Scott road obtained its 
grant along the border which had been settled many years, the 
Kansas Pacific strikes directly west towards the " American 
Desert," and the Missouri, Kansas and Texas tends in the same 
direction. The L. L. and G. ran through four of the richest 
counties in Kansas, while they were comparatively unsettled, 
in the best position for timber and far enough removed from the 
arid plains. The grant was made and the railroad sections 
allotted in 1863 and 1864, and the road mostly constructed in 
1870 and 1871 ; but meantime the even sections were open to 
settlement and rapidly taken in expectation of the road. Hence 
the railroad lands are intermingled with old settlements and 
well-improved farms, and convenient to schools, churches, and 
all the advantages of society. 

From the ridge, and the fact that the railroad owns so much 
land there, it has resulted that Anderson County, next south of 
Franklin, is not nearly so well settled as the country' north and 
south of it. For ten miles here we did not see a house or a rod 
of plowed land. Passing Divide, a station on the ridge separa- 
ting the waters which flow northeast into the Marais des Cygnes, 
from those flowing south into the Neosho, we run down into 
Allen County, the great agricultural center and leading county 



ENTERPRISIXG lOLA. 207 

of southern Kansas. This county is much better settled. Every 
man owns the land upon which he lives, and society has made 
astonishing progress for so new a country. 

Ten days we wandered about Allen County, taking note of 
local manners, the price of lands and leading productions. lola, 
the county seat, so named from Mrs. Tola Colbourne, wife of an 
old settler, is another of the " magic cities " of Kansas. It was a 
village before the war, and went down, with all southern Kan- 
sas, in that period, but with the great "rush" of 1867-68 it 
took a start, which is a surprise even in this country of preco- 
cious cities. Stone blocks went up which would look well in 
Cincinnati. A stone bank building graces the square equal to 
any west of the Mississippi ; the pavement in front of it cost two 
hundred dollars; mammoth glass, which cost in Chicago seven 
hundred dollars per pane, show the interior glories of the prin- 
cipal store, and generally improvements are conducted witli an 
audacity astonishing even to the West. While lola was yet 
weak, the '• King's Iron Bridge Manufacturing Company" were 
hunting a location for the western branch of their establishment. 
Tliey tried Topeka, but Topeka was a little slow in acceptiug 
their terms. Mr. King visited lola, and proposed to locate the 
works there for a given space of ground and fifty thousand dol- 
lars in money. A meeting was called at once, the money was 
pledged that night, and the contract signed before he left town. 
A few days after, Topeka was ready to accept, but work was 
already begun at lola. Bonds M'cre issued by the city, at a high 
rate of interest, secured by individuals, and it was stipulated in 
the contract tiiat the works should employ at least three hun- 
dred men. The buildings were just finished, and work com- 
menced in one wing, and I had the pleasure of seeing the first 
bridge put together. 

All this was accomplished by a "city "then of eight hundred 
inhabitants. I am astonished at the boldness of these new coun- 
ties in the line of public works; they cheerfully enter upon out- 
lays which would frighten the oldest counties in Indiana. Iron 
bridges span the Xeosho at several prominent points — the best 
at Neosho Falls and lola — costing from twenty to forty thou^ 



SOLID IMPKOVKMENTS. 209 

sand dollars. Fanners readily vote to tax their land two and a 
half per cent. — sticking it to non-resident owners pretty steep, 
by the way — to pay for these things. 

" Will it pay ? " I ask of them somewhat doubtfully, to which 
they, in substance, reply : " In the older States we have seen 
the folly of cheap improvements. Wooden bridges have been 
put over the same little stream every five or ten years for two 
generations. Here we purpose to begin with stone and iron ; 
double the cost at first, but cheaper in the lifetime of ourselves 
and children. Besides the diSerence between these and timber 
is not as great as in Indiana." 

There is sense in this exhibit. At one place in Parke County, 
In<liana, I have, in my short life, ridden over four successive 
wooden bridges, built at a cost, probably, of twelve thousand 
dollars each. Stone and iron would have bridged the stream 
for fifty thousand dollars, and lasted five generations at 
least. 

Eight miles below lola is Humboldt, the two enjoying a keen 
rivalry. Humboldt is the head of the United States Land 
District; lola has obtained the county seat; but Hulmboldt has 
secured the terminus of the branch road which is to connect the 
L. L. and G. with the " Border-tier " road at Fort Scott. This 
will give a through line from this section to Sedalia, Missouri. 
But tiie lolians say they will have a Y put in with the right 
branch terminating at their town, and offer to do the grading if 
the railroad company will insure the rest. 

This portion of Kansas has had two eras of settlement ; as a 
historian I might say a mythical, a heroic and a modern age. 
It was settled scatteringly in '55, '56 and '57, and by " free 
State men " for the most part. The " border war," particularly 
the horrible Marais des Cygnes massacre, and the perfidy of the 
administration discouraged progress. It had barely recovered 
when the notable "dry season " of ] 860 occurred. The bed of 
the Neosho was dry, and regularly used as a public road from 
the falls to Humboldt. The settlers . contended successively 
against short crops, no crops, Indian thieves and all devouring 
grasshoppers. Whole families wintered on poor buffalo meat, 
14 



210 EAKLY DIFFICULTIES. 

and dressed almost entirely in the skins and charity clothing. 
Some lived for weeks on condemned crackers. An old school- 
mate from Indiana lived seven months on corn bread "straight," 
and thought himself in luck to have it. Many lost their health, 
and a few, very few, died of want and exposure, or the diseases 
thereby engendered. Extreme want weakened the intellect or 
distorted the moral perceptions. The brain, lacking rich, red 
blood, distinguished but feebly between right and wrong. Men 
stole at first from want; afterward, as evil habits create perverted 
principles, from second nature, or " because they had got into 
the habit and couldn't quit." " Jay hawking " was adopted into 
the language as a delicate euphuism for "taking what you really 
needed when you couldn't pay for it." Not a few men wandered 
oif into the Indian Territory, became adventurers, and married 
squaws or practised aboriginal " free-love; " and thus is growing 
up a race of half-breeds, with all the native cunning of the 
mother, and the intellectual meanness of the superior white race. 
Two fruitful seasons followed, and society took a second growth. 
Then came the war producing worse confusion. Most of the 
young men entered the army, and many families moved north- 
ward. Farms and new claims were abandoned, fences and even 
houses were burned for fuel, and the whole section went back 
ten years. Half breeds stole, Indians murdered, and Kansians 
retaliated, and the rebels impartially plundered all three. 

Peace came at last, and two years after, the "big immigra- 
tion " set in. Through '67, '68 and '69, the whole country put 
on a new appearance, and the old settlers saw with astonisiiment 
a new and more enterprising race seizing upon all the fair unoc- 
cupied spots, bringing with them all the habits of an old and 
cultivated society, and looked upon school-houses, churches and 
public improvements springing up with the rapidity of magic. 
Society in the settled portions of Woodson, Neosho and Allen 
Counties will compare favorably with any rural district in Ohio. 
There are more educated men than usually fall to the lot of new 
communities. Music is cultivated to a surprising extent. Com- 
mon schools surpass the average of those in Indiana, and are 
modeled upon the plan of Massachusetts. 



BEAUTIFUL MOUNDS. 211 

Continuing our examination of rural Kansas by successive 
stages southward, just below the Neosho we pass a large extent 
of unsettled country. Part of it is a comparatively barren 
ridge, separating the waters of the Neosho from those flowing 
into the Verdigris; the remainder consists of rich slopes and 
the valley of the latter river, nearly all railroad and school 
land. This has just been brought into market, on easy terms, 
in seven yearly payments, and is filling up rapidly. 

Tiience we bore down into Montgomery County, upon that 
beautiful plain, sloping gently towards the Verdigris River, of 
inexhaustible richness, and dotted at regular intervals by those 
cone-shaped mounds of rock and gravel, which are the delight 
of the traveler and the despair of science. All the central por- 
tion of Montgomery consists of rich prairie broken by these 
racjunds. Some of them are perfectly circular, rising abruptly 
from the plain, with a rocky wall of from ten to thirty feet in 
hight, upon which stands the cone of gravel, loam and clay, 
often with a clump of bushes growing upon the top. Others 
rise gradually in long swells, abrupt at one end, and sloping 
gradually to the plain at the other; and still others are mole- 
sliaped, of every length, from fifty to ten thousand feet, and 
from twenty to a hundred feet in hight. They were evidently 
islands at the time when this valley was a lake; beyond that 
period I do not venture a supposition. One of them, north of 
Independence, the county seat, overtops all the rest, and from 
its summit one can obtain a magnificent view of all Montgomery, 
and much of Labette, Howard, and Wilson Counties. Neosho, 
to the northeast, is shut off by the ridge separating the waters 
of the Neosho from those of the Verdigris, 

Our last stoj) was at Cherryvale, then terminus of the L. L. 
& G., and confident of future greatness. It was about the size 
of Cincinnati, but only four squares were built up yet; mostly 
with frame tents. It was late in July, and the lieat was most 
intense, so we turned northward, thinking it best to visit the 
cooler sections of the Missouri Valley. 

At Ottawa we took the Kansas City branch of the Leaven- 
worth, Lawrence and Galveston Railroad, traversing the beau- 



212 



A^ OLD feKTlXEK, 







i v\" 







^# 



^ ^H 






MOUNDS OK THE VERDIGRIS. 



tifiil farming region of Johnson County. The Ottawa branch 
and road from Lawrence to Pleasant Hill, on the Missouri 
Pacific, form an X at Olathe, county seat of Johnson, and 
thence also the Missouri, Fort Scott and Gulf Road bears nearly 
due south, through Fort Scott to Baxter Springs, on the State 
line. 

Heavy rains soon refreshed the soil of Kansas, accompanied 
in many ])laces by hail, and the intense heat gave place to a 
delicious coolness. Wo found Kansas City about as we left it, 
but the day of our return was notable as the last day on earth 
of the oldest man in the West, if not the oldest in America or 
the world. Jacob Fournais, or "Old Pinaud," as he was 
o-enorally known, M'as a noted character on the Missouri, and 
deserves a place in history. He was born near Quebec in 1742, 



NORTHHRN' KANSAS. 213 

and when only seventeen years old was j^resent upon the field — 
not as a soldier — when Wolfe and Montcalm died. He was in 
the same neighborhood when Montgomery fell, in 1775, but soon 
after the Revolution went to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and 
thence to New Orleans. At first it seems there must be some 
mistake in a man claiming to be one- hundred and twenty-nine 
years old, but all the old mountaineers, incikuling Jim Bridger, 
Jim Beckwith, Bent and Goodale, testify to his having been 
the oldest guide and trapper when they were boys. The journal 
of Lewis and Clark shows that he was in their employ in 1804 
and 1805, and the records of the Fur Company, and of the 
Chouteau family prove that he was in their service for over 
thirty years. He had resided in Kansas City for twenty-five 
years, waiting for death, never having had a day's sickness in 
his life. He often told with great glee that when the British 
marched on New Orleans, he offered his services, but was re- 
fused enlistment, "because he was too old." How amazing to 
think of a man living among us who in his youth was doubtless 
familiar with many survivors of the wars of William of 
Orange and Queen Anne, and who was of voting age before the 
Revolution ! Two such lives would carry us back to Crom- 
well's Protectorate, and overlap each other sufficiently for the 
story of that time to reach us at second hand. Perhaps tradi- 
tion may be of more worth than we have thought. A hundred 
average lives would reach back to the conquest of Canaan, and 
the same stretch of time would require but forty lives of a 
length such as we have in every county, and leave a margin 
for the story to be communicated through each successive link 
of the living chain. The evidence is conclusive that "old 
Pinaud " was nearly or quite as old as he claimed. He re- 
marked in the morning, while walking about the yard, that he 
"would never see the sun go down again," and just before sun- 
set expired without a struggle or sigh, dying of old age and 
without a sign of disease. Many of his mountaineer companions 
still survive, between the ages of eighty and ninety. 

From Kansas City northward we take the Missouri Valley 
Road, now owned and controlled by the Missouri Pacific Com- 



214 AMBITIOUS TOWNS. 

])any — in ftict an extension of the same road. Wyandotte, just 
across the Kaw into Kansas, has, perhaps, three thousand people, 
and is considered "merely a feeder of Kansas City," A short 
distance above Wyandotte I was surprised at the sight of half-a- 
dozen large stone houses, on a high, rociiy flat, with some well- 
built four-story warehouses, and not a human being in sight. 
As the train swept on it brought to view more abandoned 
houses — rather shells — of every size, and finally a village, with 
some signs of life, behind a blutf. All this, I was informed, 
was once the renowned Quindaro, the great city which was to 
be, projected at the same time with Kansas City and Wyandotte, 
and contesting with them for the lead as metropolis of the 
border. It was laid out by a town company of ambitious Kan- 
sians, and supported a rattling daily, known as the Quindaro 
Chindoioan. The first is the name of the Indian woman who 
sold the site to the whites, and the latter means, in the Kaw 
language, "a bundle of rods." Its bright pictures of the future 
of Quindaro exceed all the specimens extant of Kansas blowing. 
Here was to be an enduring city, founded on a rock — a second 
Babylon, while Wyandotte, on the sand, would sink to nothing- 
ness; here was to be the entrepOt of all trade from the plains ; 
here was the natural point for all trade and travel from the 
States to Kansas and the mountains, and here was to be thec'iiy 
of the Missouri Valley. 

Wyandotte retorted in kind, and with equal vigor; but both 
soon succumbed to Kansas City, and Quindaro was, in the 
classic language of the " jayhawkers," "too dead to skin." The 
founders had kept even by selling lots, but many later settlers 
were ruined. The site was entirely abandoned for some years, 
and is now only settled by a few farmers. All these river towns 
were first built up by the freighting business across the plains ; 
that past, they have passed, except where railroad interests 
unite. 

Leavenworth we voted "dull." Atchison a little more lively; 
then took the Atchison and Nebraska Railroad for the northern 
border. At Troy, county-seat of Doniphan, the oldest county 
in Kansas, we stopped for a day, finding a very different country 



READY TO LEAVE. 



215 



from that we had just left in the south. All this region is 
rolling or hilly, the soil is of great richness, and timber and 
running water abundant. Tiie junction of this road with the St. 
Joseph and Denver City Ruih-oad is a mile southwest of Troy, 
giving the traveler the benefit of a fine omnibus ride up Almond 
Avenue. At the corner of the avenue and Broadway, I noticed 
a splendid herd of native cattle grazing, and in this part of tiie 
city generally the stock have kicked down thesurveyor's stakes, 
so it is difficult to determine one's bearings. A magnificent 
field of corn is inchided between Spruce and Elm, and extends 
from Sixth Street to the edge of the city. The city plat is two 
miles square, and the town of Troy, with one thousand inhabi- 
tant, lies in the northeast corner of the same. All this part 
of Kansas offers but little inducement to the emigrant, unless he 
comes with money enough to buy an improved farm — from 
$1500 to $3000 at least; and I need only say that the crops 
here, as in all Kansas, exceeded, for 1871, anything in her 
former history. 

At the end of four weeks T was ready with my report on 
Agricultural Kansas, which, for convenience' sake, the reader 
will find summarized in the following chapter. 




SPOUTING GEYSKK. 




CHAPTER XIII. 

STATISTICAL KANSAS. 

Kingrants, alteiuiou I — Topography of Kansas — Climate— Three divisions- 
Amount of good land — Productiveness — Figures — Fruit — Beautiful Homes-, 
Southern horder — Snakes— Local flavoring— Bad case of Trichina— The Kansas 
farmer. 

HIS chapter is exclusively for farmers and prospective 
emigrants. "No others need apply." If any one of 
the latter has been visited by rosy-hued dreams of an 
elvsium to be realized in Kansas, where man has but to 
tickle the earth with a hoe, and she would laugh with 
a harvest of giant maize and wonderful wheat ; where bovine 
beauties rolled helpless with fat in perennial pastures, and the 
" honest farmer" lived in Arcadian simplicity, he had better 
dream on and not read. But, on the contrary, if he has heard 
only of "droughty Kansas," this chapter will do him good. 

The facts herein are collated from personal observations in 
twelve counties, during three tours in the State, from noting 
the courses of streams and comparison with similar Western 
localities; from reports of friends in whom I repose confidence; 
from official surveys, private letters, and other accredited sources. 
Statistics are barely allowable in a popular work, but some use 
of them must be permitted in the inception of such a design. 
Kansas extends in latitude from the thirty-seventh to the for- 
tieth degree; that is to say, from the latitude of Cairo, Illinois, 
and Bowling Green, Kentucky, to that of Columbus, Ohio ; and 
in longitude from ninety-four degrees and thirty-eight minutes 
to one hundred and two degrees west from Greenwich: an im- 
mense parallelogram, about twice as long as wide, containing 
81,318 square miles, ten times the size of Massachusetts, on e- 
216 



EASTERN BORDER. 



217 




fifth larger than Missouri, little more than twice the size of 
Ohio, nearly three times that of Indiana, and exceeding by one- 
third the surface of England. 

All the contradictory reports of Kansas are true — if we apply 
each statement to the appropriate section. There are 20,000 
square miles of most fertile land ; as much of good grazing coun- 
try, and more of dry and scantily clothed plains. 

Bear in mind that the country near the Missouri ranges from 
five hundred to one thousand feet above sea-level, while the 
base of the mountains at their most eastern parts is from forty- 
five hundred to five thousand feet in elevation ; thus the tra- 
veler, start where he may, must proceed along a general up 
grade from four hundred to seven hundred miles across the 
"plains," crossing the narrower part in Dakota, and the wider 
part in Southern Kansas. 



218 TOWARDS THE PLAINS. 

Kansas stretches two-tliirds of the distance westward, up this 
incline; hence, while the eastern border is comparatively low, 
the western part averages nearly four thousand feet in hight. 
Down this long plane, more or less regularly, flow all the 
streams of Kansas to the eastward; the average moisture in- 
creasing with continuous regularity, and with it timber and the 
productive fertility of the land, while salt, gravel, sand, alkali, 
and other characteristics unfriendly to agriculture, increase west- 
ward in an inverse proportion. We should thus naturally look 
for the best land along the eastern border of the State ; but, prac- 
tically little difference is observable until we get from one hun- 
dred to one hundred and fifty miles out from the Missouri River, 
there the rich prairie of the border begins to yield rapidly to 
ridges scantily clothed with grass and the half-desert of the 
plains. Of course there is no fixed line or point at which we 
can say agricultural land ceases, and that fit only for pasture 
begins; wide and fertile valleys extend far beyond the as- 
sumed border ; far reaching fertile slopes extend miles along 
all the larger streams, while occasional depressions present thou- 
sands of acres of rich natural meadow, or perhaps an entire 
township of first-class arable land. Such exceptions are found 
in the south far up the Wichita, Verdigris, and Arkansas; in 
the center upon the Kaw, Smoky Hill and Saline; and further 
north upon the Big and Little Blue, Republican and Solomon 
Rivers even as far as the border of Colorado. While this is 
true, each successive section of twenty-five miles westward 
would show an average decrease of fertility. In Colorado the 
only tillable lands consist of the low valleys and slopes along 
the streams, lying in a condition to be irrigated ; and yet not all 
the lands of a nature to be reclaimed by irrigation can be so 
economically treated because of the absence of a water supply. 

Thus it will be seen Kansas is naturally divisible into three 
sections: rich agricultural land, half agricultural and half graz- 
ing, and half grazing, half desert. The first-class farming 
land may then safely be set down as one hundred miles east 
and west, and the width of the State, two hundred and ten 
miles, from north to south : twenty-one thousand square miles 




219 



220 WHERE TO GO. 

of unsurpassed fertility, an area sufficient for the homes of an 
agricultural population of two million one hundred thousand, 
without being more thickly settled than rural New York. But 
it will sustain a more dense population than that State ; the 
uniform richness of the soil, and the vicinity of such vast graz- 
ing lands, will cause the fertile land to be more closely culti- 
vated with profit. 

The western third of the State is still the range of the buffalo, 
and three days' travel with teams will take sportsmen from the 
terminus of the L. L. & G. Road to the hunting grounds. 
There the Kioways and Osages still hunt them in the primitive 
style, but with the improvements in firearms, hunting by the 
whites is reduced to a science and a minimum of risk. 

The accounts given by my friends of their hunting exploits 
were of the most romantic character, until they came to describe 
their mode of cooking with " Buffalo chips ; " then I begged to 
be excused. The reader is referred to the cut for a fuller ex- 
planation. 

To return to agriculture. Where shall the immigrant from 
the Middle States or the central West go? At present, I should 
say, to one of the counties south of the Kaw ; good land there is 
still to be had at prices not unreasonable. In Anderson, Allen 
and Montgomery — in the second tier of counties — there are still 
thousands of acres of the very best land at moderate rates. In 
the third tier we find Shawnee, Weller and Woodson Counties 
still almost unsettled, with some Government land and much 
private land for sale at three to five dollars per acre. Two- 
thirds of the surface of these counties is of extreme fertility. 
But the immigrant there has a still wider range. Far out upon 
the Verdigris or Wichita, and even upon the Arkansas, one- 
third or one-half of the country consists of fertile valley and 
slope, bounded by high pasture lands. Here the settler can 
still find public land in abuiidaiice, and take a homestead in the 
assured hope that a few years will surround him with all the 
society and resulting comforts he now finds on the Eastern bor- 
der. There are, however, considerable tracts of waste land be- 
tween these fertile strips — lands which will not be settled or 



222 KANSAS CHARACTER. 

improved for a hundred years ; but to my mind this is rather an 
advantage to the settled portions. 

It is unquestionable that in the Verdigris and Wichita region 
the valley land is very rich, though those ridges tit only for pastur- 
age take up half or more of the country. If I have a good farm in 
a well-settled township, what should I care if that be bordered 
by three other townships of ridges? The good land will be 
only the more thickly settled, with the waste laud for public 
pasturage and for the ledges of rock, which go a long way 
toward supplying the lack of timber. And that region is settling 
fast. At least 60,000 people entered Kansas in 1870, and the 
first half of 1871 — their own statisticians put it at 100,000 — of 
whom two-thirds or more went into that section. The State, 
admitted in 1860 with 107,000, now (1870) has 360,000 inhab- 
itants. The rich valleys of the Neosho, Verdigris and neigh- 
boring streams are fast filling with an energetic population. In 
every direction the virgin sod is being turned, and claim shanties 
and neat dwellings are springing up like magic. The overflow 
of this living stream is just beginning to set toward the Wichita 
and Arkansas. 

Domestic economy has made more progress than in most new 
countries, and the traveler through the settled portion of Kan- 
sas can secure most of the comforts of life. The western spirit 
of toleration, added to the southern spirit of hospitality, and 
quickened by Yankee enterprise, forms the characteristic of 
southern Kansas. The immigrant gets a fresh start in character 
and society as well as in property. Not " What has he done 
East?" but "What does he intend to do in Kansas and for 
Kansas?" is the question asked. They care the least for a 
man's record, if he fails to come up to the spirit of the times and 
country, of any people I have seen. If the new comer has been 
unfortunate, or even criminal, and is really desirous of taking a 
new departure in manners and morals, there he can have a clean 
sheet to begin his new record upon ; if he will start right he will 
never hear of the past, and if he is honest and public-spirited in 
Kansas the past will remain as a sealed book. Deducting some- 
thing of western swagger and a great deal of local exaggeration, 



BRAGGING. 223 

the southern Kansian is really a first-rate fellow ; frank, gener- 
ous, and with ideas expanded by change and experience, he is a 
good fellow to travel with and a desirable neighbor. There the 
immigrant from the Ohio Valley will find a climate to suit him ; 
warm enough, the summers tempered by the wind, the storms 
of winter short, though sometimes severe, and all the fruits and 
grains of the temperate zone yielding bounteously. Cotton 
could be grown in the extreme south, while the long-leafed 
Spanish tobacco and the ordinary James-River are an undoubted 
success everywhere south of the Kaw. There are evils enough 
everywhere, but many, once thought peculiar to Kansas, are 
found to exist there no more than elsewhere. Wherever good 
land is found the season will be found to suit it. In the eastern 
division of the State drought is not a whit more to be feared, 
one year with another, than in the Wabash Valley ; and when 
you go far enough west to find " droughty Kansas," the land is 
unfit for cultivation anyhow. 

So much for general facts before I come to details. But first 
a caveat. If the reader, after perusing this, could visit Kansas 
generally, he would be amazed to think I had drawn it so 
mildly, compared with the statements he will receive from resi- 
dents. According to them in most cases, there never was so 
rich, so great, so prosperous a region, never such a chance to 
make money before; the towns are all certain to make great 
cities ; lots are sure to double in price in a year ; pure fat may 
yet run in the furrows, and corn tassel and silk in greenbacks; a 
man's children will grow fat by mere contact with the soil, and 
his wife return to the beauty of her youth ; roasted shoats, with 
knife and fork stuck in their backs, will rub against him and 
beg to be eaten, and general prosperity awaits the happy emi- 
grant. And then it is so healthy. An old resident of Deer 
Creek, we are told, had lived so long, life was a burden (to his 
heirs probably), and yet the country was so healthy he could not 
die. Weary of existence he moved back to Illinois, and there 
succeeded in giving up the ghost, having stipulated tiiat he 
should be buried on his Kansas farm. But such were the life- 
giving properties of this soil that when laid in it animation re- 



224 DETAIL OF CROPS. 

turned to his limbs, his heart resumed its pulsations, and the 
incorrigible centenarian walked forth in renewed health, to the 
disgust of his heirs and the confusion of those who had doubts 
about Kansas. I thought I knew something about *' blowing 
towns" on the Union Pacific, but Kansas boys can give them 
fifty iu the game and "double discount" them. That the 
country has all the elements of a rich and prosperous State, I 
can see Avith my own eyes; that there is still room for thou- 
sands to do well is equally plain, and that all who will work 
can acquire a competence, is simply an axiom. But your average 
Kansian is not satisfied with such a moderate statement. One 
would think them at first view the happiest people in the world, 
for every man seems perfectly satisfied with his own claim, 
averring it is the very best in Kansas. And yet, strangely 
enough, about one-third of them want to sell ; not but that this 
is " God's own country," oh, r.o ! " But with the money they 
(;ould raise on this claim, they could get twice as much out on 
the AVichita, and have enough left to stock it to their minds." 

To avoid showing symptoms of the same disease, I present a 
few figures mostly on Allen and Woodson Counties, where I 
stopped longest, and knew my informants to be reliable. The 
winter of 1870-'71 was one of unusual seveiity in Kansas, and 
owing to want of preparation therefor, nearly all the cattle began 
the spring in the last stage of attenuation. One terrible snow 
storm lasted an entire week, in which the wind blew almost a 
hurricane, filling the air with powdery snow, and quite a num- 
ber of cattle froze to death, as well as hogs and chickens. The 
winter of '69-'70 had been of unusual mildness, and nearly all 
the cattle in Allen County were wintered upon the lower range 
and in the wooded bottoms without feeding. It is common with 
many farmers to pursue this plan, and depend upon the chances; 
but the stock are certain to come out miserably poor, and the 
chances are one in three of a hard winter in which ten per cent, 
of the stock will be lost. The best fiirmers prepare and expect 
to feed from three to four months — two months less than in 
Indiana. The spring of 1871 opened early and dry, the rain 
gradually increasing with the advance of the summer, and this 



AGRICULTURE. 225 

has proved the rainiest season Kansas has ever enjoyed. I say 
" enjoyed/' for it amounts almost to a certainty tliat this section 
will never have too much rain, while it may have too little. 
Old settlers say that " every other season in Kansas is wet — last 
was the season to sow much small grain; this to plant mucli 
corn." It is impossible for corn anywhere in this latitude to 
do better than it did in 1871 in Allen County; the crop was at 
least twice as good as in any part of Indiana. That the land is 
never too wet, and consequently spring plowing can be done 
under the most favorable circumstances, is one reason why it 
endures drought so much better than further east. Land which 
is never water-soaked or broken, wet never clods or " bakes." 
In 1870 the average yield of corn in this county was forty 
bushels per acre. Of other crops there is no report for single 
districts, but the State at large produced (I quote the printed 
report) as follows : 

312,000 acres corn yielded 15,000,000 bushels. 

117,000 acres wheat yielded 2,100,000 bushels. 

91,400 acres oats yielded 3,848,000 bushels. 

19,600 acres potatoes yielded 2,158,000 bushels. 

221,000 acres hay yielded 441,000 tons. 

Wheat has never })roved a perfect success in Allen County, 
though several average crops have been raised. The kinds 
generally sown are called the "Walker" and "May" wheat. 
The " Mediterranean " and " White Bluestem," so common in 
Indiana, do not yield well on the rank soil of a new country. 
A curious fact is noted, that land when first broken does best 
in wheat, and after being sown in tliat crop for some years will 
produce far better corn than when new. Hence "new ground" 
here is rarely, if ever, planted in corn. The peculiar saline 
properties of the soil render new land less fit for corn than old, 
while the same salts produce no bad effects upon wheat. The 
fly is a little troublesome to wheat, but its principal enemy is 
the chintz bug, so-called here, though I see no resemblance in 
the specimens shown me to our Eastern insect of that name. 
It will eat almost any crop, but prefers the small grains, having 
shortened those crops in this section about ten per cent. 
15 



226 ROOTS AND VINES. 

Rye, oats and barley do equally well, though but little of the 
last has been grown, and this section is thought to be particu- 
larly favorable for oats. Mr. A. Hall, whose farm is in the 
valley at th.e junction of Deer Creek and the Neosho E,iver, har- 
vested in 1870 seventy bushels per acre from a large area; and 
J. C. Clark, on the upland near lola, gathered four thousand 
bushels from sixty-five acres, the entire yield being sold readily 
at fifty cents per bushel. Tiiis is the " money crop" of Allen 
County as, owing to stock raising and the vicinity of the In- 
dian Territory, there is always ready sale at good prices. Thus 
it will be seen, two or at most three good crops will still pay for 
an average farm in this section. 

Of ground crops every kind known in Ohio flourish exceed- 
ingly in this virgin soil ; potatoes and turnips particularly 
excel. The former grow to an immense size, and never seem 
"watery" or otherwise bad, while turnips do as well as I have 
ever seen them in Minnesota, which saying every one who has 
ever visited that State will consider the highest limit of 
superlative praise. Beets and pie-plant, I suspect, do but 
poorly ; I hear but little of them, and from comparison of this 
soil with that of Utah and California, I think the country 
needs a few years' cultivation to make those plants a success. 
Allen County in 1870 raised an average crop of potatoes, but 
in '71 the yield was immense. The Colorado bug has not put 
in an appearance yet, but will doubtless be along indue time, in 
spite of State rights. 

Of vines, every kind known in Ohio is grown; but some 
few of them have special enemies, which destroy the hope of 
profit. A fatality seems to attend "Hubbard's Kershaws" 
and squashes. They are " took by bugs" so regularly that it is 
nearly impossible to raise any. Pumpkins and other kindred 
productions yield wonderfully, and watermelons far exceed any 
in Indiana. 

A singular phenomenon was observed last year in this sec- 
tion. A moderate crop of small but very sweet melons rijx^ned 
in July, about which time a rainy period occurred, when a 
second growth appeared and were perfectly ripe by the last of 



CULTIVATED FRUITS. 227 

September. Of course they were " out o' season," uiul conse- 
quently interior in flavor; still they were good enough to eat, 
and valuable as an indication of what the seasons of Southern 
Kansas will do. Wild strawberries arc found in irreat abun- 
dance on the prairies, of several different kinds, as well as of 
different shapes. When cultivated, the same varieties are most 
excellent. A very large smooth gooseberry is found in great quan- 
tity in the timber, which every one here pronounces fine; but as 
all gooseberries are slow poison to me, I can only say they look 
well. Many kinds of wikl grapes are found, the "big blue" 
predominating. Of cultivated grapes the " Concord," " Hart- 
ford Prolific," and " Diana" are the only kinds I have met 
with, the first being by far the best for this section. The rank 
soil of a new country is not generally thought favorable to cul- 
tivated grapes, but so far they have done quite well. I have 
heard of no wine being manufactured; and rather suspect it 
would appear too mild a drink or too small a business for the 
thoroughbred Kansian, whose very life seems to depend on 
doing or appearing to do everything on a grand scale. On 
general principles, the people of all new countries will raise 
corn and cattle rather than wine and seeds. The country dis- 
tricts contain more tee-totallers than I would have expected. 
Allen County is more temperate than the. average in Indiana. 
In the towns the standard drink is whisky — "stone fence," 
"forty -rod," and "tarantula-juice." Indeed, whisky and bravery 
are thought to be necessary for each other ; " whisky is the only 
drink for men," and whoever drinks at all drinks whisky. So 
your true Kansian says with the Scotch Poet : 

" Let half-starved slaves in warmer skies 
See future vines rich clustering rise, 
Their lot fair Kansas ne'er envies, 

But blithe and frisky 
She eyes her freeborn martial boys 

Take off their whisky." 

Of wild fruits, plums, grapes, and gooseberries most abound. 
There are but few wild blackberries, but the cultivated Lauton 
does well, better than in Indiana, from the fact that it never 



228 PEACHES. 

freezes out here. The country is too new to form a certain judg- 
ment on domestic fruits. Half a dozen orchards on Deer Creek 
are doing well, and the indications are good for apples. It is 
already proved that peaches can be grown with great success. 
The oldest settlers are enthusiastic upon this point, and Mr. E. 
R. Lynn, a Presbyterian minister, who has resided on Deer 
Creek for eleven years, tells me his experience goes to show 
that peaches will be grown nine years out of every ten. The 
only specific enemy of that tree is the " grub," so called here, 
an insect of the tercbrce species, which works on the roots just 
below the surface. Growers must dig and examine the roots 
of peach trees every spring, when the presence of the " bore" 
can easily be detected. The roots must then be treated with 
ashes and lime, the latter being almost as plenty here as clay in 
Ohio. This process is quite effective in destroying the pests. 
Mr. Lynn says peaches have failed entirely but one year since 
he came here. They need a northern exposure and high 
ground ; on the southward slopes the buds come forward too 
early, and for some unexplained reason, the trees fail to do well 
on the low grounds along the creeks, notwithstanding such are 
the naturally timbered sections, where one would at first expect 
fruit trees to thrive best. The orchard of D. E. Rhodes in 
lola, is the best in Southern Kansas. In 1870 he made his 
first sales — a hundred bushels of apples at one dollar per bushel. 
I see no reason, either in climate, soil, or formation, why this 
should not be a first-rate fruit country, and yet many doubts 
are expressed upon the subject. Over in Missouri, where 
Kansas people have been buying fruit for many years, the 
farmers are setting out immense orchards in the assured hope 
that they will supply Kansas for the next forty years, and that 
the demand will increase with the population. My own opinion 
is that they will "slip up on it." 

The residents in new countries are generally grasping for 
land, but in Allen County they prefer cattle. After getting 
their land paid for — a homestead merely — they generally put 
every spare dollar in cattle; for they reason, "the land may 
double your money in ten years or less, but with any kind of 



THE CATTLE BUSINESS. 229 

care, cattle are certain to double it in two or three years. Messrs. 
Funkhouser & Longsiiore, of'Carlyle, bought a drove of Texas 
cattle in Xoveniber, 1869, and sold them in Angust, 1870, for ex- 
actly double the purchase money. Deducting all cost of winter- 
ing, and herding, they realized sixty per cent, on their investment. 
It is quite common to purchase in Missouri one spring and sell the 
second autumn thereafter at twice the amount — thus realizing 
from fifty to eighty per cent, profit in twenty months. Tiicrc is 
still so much range in Allen Connty, and owing to the Ozark 
Kidge and other ridges, will be so for many years, that this is 
the great money-making business. Farmers gadly borrow money 
at ten per cent., secured by mortgage, to invest in cattle, with 
the assurance of making at least thirty per cent, upon their 
investment. Of course this kind of business will not last 
always, but while it does last, for the next few years^ is the 
time to immigrate here. There is still abundant room for 
farmers and stockhandlers. If people would work here as they 
do in Ohio, every farmer would be rich in five years. 

But people in new countries are lazy. The first settlers seem 
to get it naturally, and newcomers soon fall into their ways and 
catch the same disease. I thought people on the Wabash were 
lazy. They are fearful bundles of steaming energy compared 
to the Kansians. Allen County is settled by a superior class, 
but I perceive they are fast falling into the old ways. A man 
can live in a log cabin, wear ragged clothes, and go bare-footed 
and still be an aristocrat; so what is the use of working to se- 
cure a social position. People seldom work for what they have 
already, except where long habit has made it almost a necessity. 
For mechanical labor of nearly every kind there is a steady 
demand, at prices considerably in advance of those paid in Ohio. 
For stone-masons and house-carpentera the demand is greatest 
and the wages best. Much good land is still to be had from 
private owners at from four to ten dollars per acre, unimproved. 
If one can raise the money it is fully as cheap, if not cheaper, 
to buy an improved as a new farm; for there are always 
plenty wanting to sell. There are always some dissatisfied, 
always many wanting to change their location, and the nearer 



230 THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES. 

the border you get, the more you will find who want to sell out 
and move West. Already there is a considerable movement 
from this section to the Verdigris, a hundred miles west, aud 
many pioneers are starting for the Wichita, twice as far off. 
Beautiful and fertile, but narrow valleys, with four times as 
much half-barren, rolling })astures, as it is so far west, suits the 
true borderer far better than this section, which is three-fourths 
fertile and one-fourth barren ridge. The best chance here just 
now is in the railroad lands, which are just brought into market. 
They can be had at prices as low or lower than prairie lands, 
^vith annual payments for ten years at seven per cent, interest. 
Better terms could not be offered. By the fourth year a good 
farmer can have enough raised to pay for his farm, at from five 
to ten dollars per acre. 

When we consider that timber grows readily on the highest 
prairie in Eastern Kansas, when the sod is once broken, and 
fire kept off, and that all the cultivated grasses and evergreens 
need but to be sown or planted, it appears that the facilities for 
making a beautiful home exceed even those of Ohio. 

In 1872, I traversed the southern tier of counties, and found 
the region rich in soil, but not so healthful for Northern people. 
The traveler from the State line northward observes a gradual 
rise in the country. About Chetopa or Parker he will find ex- 
tensive flats and occasional sloughs. Coming up the Neosho or 
its tributaries to Humboldt or lola, he reaches a higher, gently 
rolling prairie, sloping toward the south, without sloughs, 
and nowhere rising into barren ridges. From southeast to 
northwest, from the northern part of Cherokee County to Fort 
Scott, and thence to Emporia, he finds a fair medium between 
flat and high lands. In the northern part of Allen County, 
about Divide Station, on the Ijeavenworth, Lawrence and Gal- 
veston Railroad, he leaves this fertile slope for the " Eidge." 
Ti)is is a sort of spur from the Ozark Mountains, running 
northwest between the waters which flow into the Neosho and 
Arkansas, and those flowing eastward into the Osage. For ten 
miles there, along the Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston 
Railroad, the country appears to me very barren ; in the cuts 



REPTILES. 231 

the rock shows in compact layers but a few inches below the 
surface, and the soil is evidently hard and cold. Having passed 
the divide, a reverse px'ocess is noticeable, the country improv- 
ing northward by similar gradations. 

"Noxious varmints" are not over-plentiful, still they give 
some trouble. Snakes are, in local phrase, " uncommon thick 
and lively," near the southern border. But I susj)ect it is nearly 
impossible for the average Kansian to tell the truth about 
snakes. The temptation to make a "pilgrim" open his eyes is 
too great for his virtue. I killed one of the species known as 
" bull snake," which was five feet three inches long. They are 
quite harmless, and get their name, I suppose, from their thick 
bodies and blunt heads. Their hiss is so loud and resonant 
that strangers often mistake it for that of a rattlesnake. But no 
western man, who has often heard that blood-curdling lir-ali-h-hj 
of the real crotalus, will ever mistake any other sound, made 
by man or brute, for it. It is unique, not to be imitated by any 
art of man's device. We heard so many stories along the bor- 
der about snakes that we were perpetually on the look-out, and 
my companion generally walked with eye on the grass and 
legs limbered, ready for a jump. Besides the accounts which 
proved authentic, one farmer told us of a diamond snake biting 
his horse so badly that the animal fell dead, and when he ex- 
amined the wound, the marks of the fangs M'ere four inches 
apart. Another related that he was hoeing corn, when ho 
stirred up an immense rattler. He aggravated it till it struck 
its fangs into the hoe-handle. Having killed it, he was pro- 
ceeding with his work, when he observed the hoe-handle grow- 
ing larger, sensibly swelling with the poison. It continued 
getting worse for an hour, when the eye of the hoe popped out. 
Worms, also, are reported bad ; and as Kansians always do 
more and have more of anything, even of a disease, than anybody 
else, the Trichina spiralis was peculiarly bad in Kansas. An 
account is given of one man in Doniphan County, during the 
prevalence of that newspaper epidemic, who had all the symp- 
toms, had the " spirals " bore through his skin, in fact got de- 
cidedly " wormy." He accordingly took a powerfid emetic, and 




232 



" HONEST FARMER." 233 

tlircwup three or four liandfulls of pork worms, three lizards, a 
section of the wonu of a still, two bull snakes, and a few rods 
of worm fence, after which, adds the local chronicle, he began 
to feel better. 

The most dangerous snakes in Southern Kansas are the short 
prairie rattlesnakes, seldom over two feet long. They are some- 
what dull and sluggish, and farmers come upon them or touch 
them before seeing them, but I never heard of their bite killing 
any one. 

"Ye honest farmer," of Kansas, is like the same individual 
in Ohio, only a little more so ; as the farther West one goes the 
more he finds the people prone to exaggeration. At any rate, 
things lose nothing in the telling. And the beauty of it is, 
every man is satisfied with his claim, pronouncing it the very 
best, richest, best located and watered in that section. True, he 
would sell, sometimes, if a reasonable price, cash, were offered; 
but only because he has another claim in view, nearly as good, 
but farther out, which he can buy cheap for cash, and have 
enough left from this sale to stock it. 

There are two kinds of farmers in America. The first is the 
simple, artless yeoman, who never plots, and is incapable of 
guile, who does right because he scarcely knows how to do 
wrong; who will point out the defects of anything he is selling 
to the citizen ; who goes singing to his work, is the pillar of 
the country church, and a condensed epitome of all the virtues 
possessed by Adam — before he became a laborer. This is the 
farmer of romance, of city pastorals, written in a third-story 
back, by men reared in the city, who don't know white clover 
from dandelion, but must coin their imagination by running 
city bucolics at a quarter of a penny a line, or less; but this is 
not the kind of farmer I am acquainted with. The other kind, 
with whom and his compeers I spent the first eighteen years of 
my life, is a totally different being. He is not at all lacking in 
art. He knows how to ask all he can possibly get, and a little 
more. He is a being with whom written contracts are quite in 
order, for I am sorry to say he will too often fail to deliver the 
promised produce if the second comer offers a little more. 
Reason : he has no commercial character to sustain, his business 



234 



GO TO KANSAS. 



Is to get all he can. He is honest enough after his fashion, free 
and frank with his neighbors, but looks upon the "city gent" 
as lawful prey. Too often he has an easy-fitting morality to 
the effect that, as all others " look down upon the laborer," the 
laborer is perfectly justified in gouging all others at every chance. 
The Kansas farmers, generally, belong to the class I have 
known most about. Seriously, though, if my city reader ima- 
gines there is any less artfulness, envy, or gossip, or " taking 
advantage," in the country than in the city, let him dismiss the 
thought. Or, better still, let him go to the country, live and 
work there a year or two. 

Kansas, then, is not paradise. There is no paradise anywhere 
West that I am aware of I have visited no section where 
"grain, flour, and fruit gush from the earth until the land runs 
o'er ; " but there is yet abundant room there to secure a farm, 
where labor will surely result in competence, where the laws are 
peculiarly favorable to small holders ; society is making rapid 
progress, peace and plenty reign^ and all who will be virtuous 
may be happy. 




A BAD CASE OF TRICHINA. 




CHAPTER XIV. 

A FLYING TRIP. 

I )own to St. Joseph — Up the Missouri Yalley — Omaha again — Dull times on the 
Missouri — lleasons given — Oif for Sioux City — Ujj-country peojjle — Yanliton — • 
Caught in a storm — Dakota — Black Hills — Gold ! — perhajis — Sioux — Iape 
Oaiiye — Called westward — Union Pacific — Mormondom again — Over to 
" Frisco." 

FTER "doing" Kansas properly we set out from Troy, 
Doniphan County, on the first of August, to hunt a 
cooler climate. From Troy to Elmwood, opposite St. 
Joseph, we pass rapidly over a down grade. St. Joseph 
looks well from the opposite side, and, like Kansas 
City, was a sort of exception to Missouri River towns in 1871, 
in that it had some business. From there Ave pass to Council 
Bluffs on the Kansas City, St. Joe and Council Bluffs Railroad, 
an exceptionally good one. I remarked the apparent youthful- 
ness of its management. It seems to be owned, governed, and 
run almost entirely by young men ; the majority of those I saw 
connected with it being not over thirty years of age. The whole 
road had a general air of newness and freshness ; the cars were 
clean and provided with all the latest attachments. Among 
these was the air-brake, which was a novelty to me, and a 
perfect success, while the cars, locomotives and water-tanks were 
of the latest patterns. We passed right up the Missouri Valley 
on the east side of the river, all the distance through grassy 
meadows, stretching from river to bluffs, with enough air, free 
from dust ; and it is superfluous to add it was one of the most 
enjoyable trips I have taken out West. It was a surprise to 
me how little of that valley was under cultivation, being of 
rich soil and supplied with near markets. I would not have 
thought so much of it, but the Nebraska side was thickly set- 

235 



236 LAND GRANTS. 

tied. In fact, the eastoni sides of nearly all these Western 
States are more thickly settled than the western sides of the 
State adjoining to the east. Before one State is filled to its 
western border another is partially surveyed in the eastern part, 
and immigration commences to fill it. The new State is a new 
field for selection, and all open to choice. It thus presents new 
features of attraction, and the succeeding waves of people pass 
over into it. Anotlier cause is that large and numerous grants 
of public lands were made to railroads in Iowa, There were 
five such wide squares granted east and w'est across Iowa, and 
other shorter ones. There was also a grant along this railroad 
to Council Bluffs, and another thence to Sioux City. On the 
opposite side of the Missouri the lands were all left free to set- 
tlers. At least on that side the grants run M'estward from the 
river, and not parallel with it. Upon the Government lands 
each settler can take a quarter section of one hundred and sixty 
acres, while within land grants he can take only eighty acres, 
for which he must pay double price. The railroads also hold 
their alternate sections of land higher than the Government 
price. There are thirty-six sections in each township. Of 
these the railroad gets eighteen odd-numbered sections. The 
sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections are set apart for school pur- 
poses, leaving only sixteen even numbered sections for settlers, 
preventing solidly continuous settlements unless they purchase 
from the railroad. When the great bodies of Government 
lands are near they naturally prefer them. 

We reached Omaha after this pleasant journey, to find it 
painfully dull. This was shown in its hotels, in its streets and 
its business houses. There was no movement of people or 
appearances of trade adequate to the size of the city. One 
walked along quiet streets and passed fronts of business houses 
without feeling the hurry and jostle of men deep in business 
transactions. Clerks had time to sit down and read, and the 
ledger was often closed. The stir whicli attended the rapid 
growth of Omaha was not tiiere, and I did not observe the 
same surplus crowds of mixed people that once throngetl its 
public places. 



MISSOURI VALLEY. 237 

The people, however, gave many reasons for this : it was hot, 
and public energy was relaxed; farmers were busy harvesting 
and did not buy of the small towns, which in turn could not 
buy of the cities. The trade had ended for the spring and had 
not set in for the fall ; the crops of this year had not begun to 
move. The city, however, proposes large plans to control the 
wheat trade for a large area north and west, and ship grain 
direct after the plan of St. Louis, receiving return shipments of 
merchandize and groceries to send out from this center. While 
there are not apparent reasons present to justify the realization 
of this plan, there are also other ambitious markets that would 
object by virtue of their railroad and river highways. 

Of the four leading towns on the Missouri, St. Joe alone ex- 
hibited, in 1871, average life; Kansas City was doing some- 
thing, while Omaha and Leavenworth seemed to be living in 
hope of the autumn. All the four did less paying business 
than Evansville, Indiana, or Toledo, Ohio, We proceeded 
north to Sioux City, Iowa, by the way of Missouri Valley 
Junction and the Sioux City and Pacific Railroad. All this 
distance — a hundred miles — is over the level, broad valley of 
the Missouri. The southern part of the valley is low and in 
places very wet and largely occupied by sloughs and old ba- 
yous. Particularly is this the case west of the junction of the 
Northwestern and Sioux City Railroad. The country is settled 
only on (he bordering higher lands and slopes. This improves 
as we pass northward, and Onawa and Woodbury are fair little 
villages in fine stretches of land, and near Sioux City the coun- 
try seems more generally occupied and better improved. 

Before reaching Missouri Valley Junction it seemed as if all 
the passengers were through passengers from the East or West, 
and one could hardly see a person destined for the Upper Mis- 
souri. But when the call to change cars for Sioux City was 
obeyed we soon found a car full selected from all the others. 
These seemed generally acquainted, and the assorting process 
improved the sociability. At once inquiries commenced about 
Upper Missouri affairs, and the characteristic interest, callings, 
business and modes of life of the upper country were soon de- 



238 SIOUX CITY. 

veloped. There were Sioux City bankers, merchants and citi- 
zens, emigrants for northwest Iowa or Dakota, Indian traders 
or agents, cattle dealers who had contracts, herders, fur dealers, 
soldiers returning from furlough, and many other good people. 
We soon reached Sioux City, and looked at it for the first time. 
Not prepared to expect much from so young a place, we Avere 
rather pleased than otherwise with its showing. While the 
trade of the Missouri cities was so dull, Sioux City could hardly 
be called active, yet its travel, trade and business movement 
was all the season justified. 

After a brief stay I wrote thus of Sioux City : 
" The city is fairly and advantageously located at a great 
bend of the Missouri, where coming from the west between 
Dakota and Nebraska it curves south between Iowa and Ne- 
braska. The point had long been favorably mentioned in 
advance of the completion of any of Iowa's railroads. At one 
time it was supposed the line of the Union Pacific would be 
westward from this point. Whether by fair means or foul, 
Sioux City lost that advantage. She now has, however, two 
good lines of railroad completed, the one connecting with the 
Northwestern, and the other east to Dubuque, run by the Illi- 
nois Central. Another line is rapidly approaching completion 
from Minneapolis, and lines are prospected — one north to Red 
River, one west to Yankton, Dakota, and one southwest to 
Columbus, Nebraska. The population is about four thousand ; 
there are several large firms and heavy business houses. The 
town is well built in part with some excellent buildings and 
large blocks, while there are the usual board houses. Heavy 
fires are rapidly clearing these away, and where ten days ago a 
block of shanties was burned, brick stores are being built. 
What was then accounted a loss, is now declared a gain. Two 
daily newspapers are proofs of thrift and enterprise. The 
Journal, edited by G. D. Perkins, Esq., is a reliable Republi- 
can paper, devoted to the interests of the region, and well sup- 
ported. The Times, edited by Charles Collins, Esq., is the 
oldest paper, is independent, but rather Democratic, strikes 
here and there as occasion offers, and is hardly so prosperous." 



DAKOTA FARMS. 239 

The railroad to Minneapolis is now completed, as is another 
to Yankton. 

Early next morning I mounted a stage for Yankton. The 
previous night had brought one of the heaviest rains ever 
known, and the morning was dull, cloudy, and hot. The mud 
was like glue. There was a peculiarity in it I never saw before. 
It seemed to collect constantly on the wheels, at times com- 
pletely wadding them up, and then it would fall off in a huge 
pile. The mud was a peculiar mixture of clay and sand, and 
its tenacity was increased by the prairie grass mingled with it. 
After all this is a musical world if it is only wound up right, 
and there never was a stage trip unrelieved by humor. Our 
load had its characters who told their stories in spite of heat 
and mud. One suggested that this would be a good country in 
which to store mud for winter use, or catch tadpoles and bleach 
them for oysters ; while his excuse for smoking in tlie stage 
was that his corns hurt him in wet weather, and he smoked for 
his corns. 

Northwestward, up the Missouri, we struggled, and in twenty 
miles reached better roads and finer farms, wit!\ neat cottages. 
In the corner, between the Big Sioux and Missouri River, is a 
French settlement, while further on are many Scandinavian 
settlements, and elsewhere Bohemians, though the prevailing 
population is American. The Valley of the Missouri is from 
five to fifteen miles wide, a broad, high, level flood plain, bor- 
dered along the streams with heavy bodies of timber. On 
either side of the road were waving heavy fields of grain, just 
ripe, and in them were reaping machines at work. All the 
people seemed busy and fairly prosperous. We saw one notice- 
able sight. A Dane, about six feet in hight, was driving four 
oxen to a self-raker, and two big Danish women binding after 
it. Farther away were Norwegian women binding and shock- 
ing wheat. Oh ! Anthony, Stanton, Stevens, how would not 
your tears of sympathy have been shed at this sight. But I 
suppose there is no relief. The Legislature of Dakota, last 
winter, refused to enfranchise the sex of which ye are the 
representatives. In Dakota they evidently have an eye rather 



240 



AT YANKTON. 




woman's rights in DAKOTA. 



to the utility of women than her rights. But I thought how 
blessed were these people from Norway and Sweden, that they 
could come to so goo<^lly a land and on their own farms be pri- 
vileged to gather such crops. 

At 9 p. M. we entered Yankton, the ambitious capital of Da- 
kota, where I spent a delightful week with my brother, then 
Surveyor General of the Territory. There was not so much 
difference in climate between this and Kansas as one would 
expect. The nights are a little cooler, perhaps, but in August 
the days are about as hot. One of the vagaries of the climate 
I was destined to realize in a way more novel than pleasant. 
On the hottest afternoon in early August I went driving upon 
the open prairie, with my nieces, aged twelve and fourteen 
years. When ten or twelve miles from town, the sky suddenly 
darkened, and in a few minutes was overcast with heavy black 
clouds, a strong wind springing up in a moment from the 
northwest. I made all haste towards Yankton, but before 



SUDDEN CHANGE. 



241 




ANY PORT IN A STORM. 



I had driven a mile the rain was coming in torrents. The wind 
being across our track, threatened every moment to overturn 
the carriage, and I was forced to diverge from the road and 
drift before the storm upon the open prairie. In ten minutes 
our way was so obscured, I could only determine that we were 
going down a gentle slope, but where I knew not. Coming 
upon a few stout posts, set up to mark a "claim," I ran the 
team over one so as to anchor the carriage fast upon it by the 
doubletrees, and determined to sit out the storm. 

In less than half an hour the thermometer must have sunk 
thirty degrees. The wind increased to a perfect hurricane, 
howling by us in a way that threatened destruction ; the top of 
the carriage gave way, and in the slight lulls of the tempest I 
could hear the horses groaning and the girls crying and praying. 
We were drenched already by the chilling rain, and nothing 
was to be gained by staying in the carriage, which every 
moment threatened to fly into splinters. We determined to 
16 



242 



ROUGH EXPERIENCE. 




v>\ 



■J^ 



leave it, and try to make our 
way to a cabin we remem- 
bered a mile back on the road. 
Foot by foot we fought our 
way along, sometimes crouch- 
ing to leeward of the highest 
knolls for a moment's breath- 
ing, then plunging on, all 
clasped together, through the 
mud and rain. Every low 
piece of ground was covered 
by torrents of running water. 
I could not carry both the 
children, and if we had sepa- 
rated, the smaller was in dan- 
ger of being blown away ; so 
we waded with clasped arras 
through water up to their 
waists. 

We reached the cabin in an 
hour. I was too much ex- 
hausted to speak, and the chil- 
dren sank breathless upon the 
floor, to the no small astonish- 
ment of the inmates. By a 
vigorous application of hot 
whiskey, flannel, and bricks, 
myself and the younger child 
escaped without injury; but 
the older suffered a long and 
.serious illne&s. Evidently it 
requires some " weather wis- 
dom " to carriage-ride in Da- 
kota. 

Not more than a third, 
perhaps a fourth, of the 
Territory is good arable land, 



FRIENDLY DAKOTAHS. • 243 

and of that third, less than one-tenth is settled. The only white 
inhabitants are in the southeast corner and in the tar northeast, 
at Pembina, near the British line. Along the eastern border, 
including the valleys of Big Sioux and Red River, is a fertile 
strip a hundred miles wide; this also extends a little way up 
the Missouri. The good land may be represented rudely by a 
V, the left arm much the shorter and more narrow ; all the rest 
consists of high and half-barren plains, sometimes scantily clothed 
with grass, and often entirely bare. All the center and west 
are occupied by various bands of the Dakotahs or Sioux. Those 
at the Lower Agency are "civilized," that is, they raise some 
crops, swear, drink whiskey, and dress with some approach to 
the white costume. One flourishing church. Episcopalian, is 
composed of Sioux, who have also a weekly paper. It is called 
the lape Oahye, meaning "Talk carried about," is Republican 
in politics, and ardently supports the " humanitarian Indian 
policy" of President Grant. 

The western part of Dakota extends into the Black Hills, 
and every year or so exciting rumors reach us of gold dis- 
coveries in that section ; but as it is in the great Indian Reser- 
vation, the U. S. officials forbid all immigration. Northward 
and east of the Missouri are the "Bad Lands," regions of deso- 
lation and death, to which all that can be said of Western 
deserts fully applies. The eastern part, and as much of the 
central as is valuable, is being rapidly surveyed ; the Territory 
has doubled in population within four years ; and presents an 
inviting field to the emigrant from our most northern States and 
Northern Europe. 

My second Sunday at Yankton, I was startled by a telegram 
bringing notice that a party was then waiting at Omaha, and 
earnestly desiring ray company on the great overland excursion. 
On Monday I staged the sixty-five miles thence to Sioux City, 
and of all the staging I ever did in the West, I am qualified to 
say that experience was the worst. Starting at 4 A. M., we 
jogged on for sixteen weary hours in the dead air of the Mis- 
souri bottoms, the bluffs shutting off all air from the northward, 
and the timber along the Missouri giving the effect of a hot 




244 



A HOT RIDE. 245 

brick wall on the other side. The sun in that latitude shines 
fifteen hours daily in August, and most of that time the thermo- 
meter never sank below ninety degrees. Seven men were 
crowded into a close "jerky," without springs, the stock was 
miserable, and the drivers apparently half dead, and in the 
middle stage we were six hours going fifteen miles. One pas- 
senger w^as half insane with heat and fatigue; another was 
attacked with gastritis ; the other four, besides myself, were dis- 
charged soldiers returning from Fort Berthold, who made the 
day hideous with blasphemy, constantly cursing the driver until 
the air was so impregnated with damnation I am confident it 
added ten degrees to the temperature. I reached Sioux City 
completely exhausted, but somewhat relieved to find that the 
intense heat — or some other motive power — had produced even 
worse effects there, as there had been one deadly assault, two 
bloody riots and a daring robbery, all within twenty-four hours. 
It was a black day in the calendar of Sioux City. As I walked 
out to get cool before retiring, the open doors of half a dozen 
concert rooms invited the weary; saloons seemed surprisingly 
thick for a State which gave forty thousand majority for a tem- 
perance ticket, and evening business of all sorts was lively. 
And yet Sioux City was not happy. It had been so generally 
prosperous, antl grown so rapidly since the completion of its two 
railroads, that the general dulness on the Missouri seemed to 
its citizens twice as bad by contrast. The average of business 
was good, but average business the old settlers call "dull 
times." 

The ride down the Sioux City and Pacific Railroad to Mis- 
souri Valley Junction is through a broad, rich prairie bottom 
almost unsettled, and in northwestern Iowa generally the towns 
are a little ahead of the country. The new telegraph line from 
that place to Yankton is a worthy exhibit of the enterprise of 
western Young America, It was projected by Mr. Rome J. 
Percy, known to journalistic fame as correspondent of the New 
Yoi'h Herald from Mexico, at the time of INIaximilian's occupa- 
tion. With two others he put up the line from Sioux City to 
Yankton as a purely private project. There their means gave 




246 



WOMEN TOURISTS. 247 

out, but Congress came to their aid, and granted a small sub- 
sidy for its extension, and they are now engaged extending the 
line to the forts on the Upper Missouri. The valley down to 
Omaha is only interesting for prospective agriculture ; man has 
not much improved on nature as yet. 

Reaching Omaha, I found an unusually merry party ready 
for the trip to California ; and I may add as a wonder that most 
of the ladies enjoyed it even more than they had anticipated, for 
women are nearly always disappointed with the western tour. 
Woman, as a tourist, is not a success. In the first place, she is 
too elaborate in the relations of space as well as time; requires 
too much room, and has too many needs and dependencies. 
Perhaps I should say this of the eastern woman on a tour out 
west. We approach such criticisms or reports with proper awe, 
but are driven to them by the manifest suifering about us. The 
woman suffers from the alternations of heat and cold, sun and 
shade, to which she is unable, by experience or habit, to accom- 
modate herself. More than all else, she suffers in the item of 
provisions. A inan rushes in to the table without elaborate 
toilet, and eats heartily, even if the place does look doubtful. 
Woman prefers temporary starvation to a questionable meal. 
This dilemma is unavoidably presented frequently. 

A little starving may be all very well were it not for the 
consequences. The result is generally a headache, an illness at 
the next stopping place, and inability to eat when she reaches a 
suitable table. Tiie nerve from the brain to the stomach is not 
so large in woman as in man, so she can starve with less present 
pain, but it produces worse effects. Farther west comes the 
alkali, or in places the chemical springs; the vicious air turns 
the rouge to green and the toilet powder to a dirty brown. 
Lovely woman becomes a fright, realizes it through her jaundiced 
feelings, and suffers in temper and spirits accordingly. It is 
not wonderful that we sometimes hear her asked such questions 
as, " What is the matter, now f " the last word with more of 
irony than art, suggesting that something is generally wrong. 
All this is very sad, and perhaps unavoidable; but there are 
three-fold greater evils, most of which might be avoided if fully 
informed before setting out. 



248 TAKE THE TRIP. 

Of all the women who for any motive are known to cross 
the Plains not one in ten really enjoys it. There is an excess 
of baggage ; they seem to regard it as a long picnic, and expect 
the same attention from their male companions. All is very 
nice for a day or two, like a picnic or brief excursion, but 
such a style becomes a fearful bore when kept up for five or 
six weeks. A trip across the plains should be a practical exem- 
plification of woman's rights. She should be self-reliant and 
largely able to take care of herself. In fact it is a terrible di- 
lemma presented to the female mind in this shape — less baggage 
or very little comfort. 

I noticed one little Missouri woman to whom this was evi- 
dently neither a first nor second trip. She wore a short dress, 
not elaborated much beyond usefulness, of stout material, not of 
a kind to show dust. She had one trunk and no hand pack- 
ages, enjoyed reasonably broad soled walking shoes, and carried 
not an ornamental fan, but a tough Japanese. The cars and 
accommodations suited her because she was prepared to suit 
them. With some such outfit, and a determination to start 
right and keep even, an eastern lady may make the western 
tour with little more annoyance than a man. To these reflec- 
tions I am driven by observations on various trips. The 
majority of the passengers are eastern people looking at the 
West. Many of them are ladies, and these are all about equally 
miserable. 

Of course no American will think of going abroad till he has 
seen something of his own country — particularly that important 
part which may be seen by a trip over the Union Pacific. I 
wish that sentence were as true as it appears to me reasonable. 
For really there is no excuse now for one who wants to travel 
and can afford it, and does not see some of the wonders of the 
West: especially when so great a variety may be seen at compa- 
ratively little expense. The company have exhausted the re- 
sources of railroad ingenuity, and what with palace cars, obser- 
vation cars and dining stations, with other appliances of art, all 
may enjoy the trip to the utmost, and excursions are more in 
favor than ever. Great has been the rhetoric expended over 



REVOLUTION. 249 

this line, but it has not become stale; still the overland 
railway seems as great an accomplishment as ever. The com- 
pany has lately issued an elaborate series of views representing 
points of greatest interest, from which the tourist can most easily 
learn what he wants to see and how to see it. 

We reached Salt Lake City at the end of fifty-three hours 
from Omaha, and after the inevitable visit to the warm baths 
I strolled over to Main Street, and as I turned the corner of 
First South Street, I stopped with amazement. Never, in all 
my experience with western cities, have I seen such a change as 
had come over Salt Lake within a year. Stacks of bullion — 
silver and lead — graced the corners, crowds of miners thronged 
the pavements; half a dozen hotels were full of visitors, capital- 
ists and superintendents, all Gentile; bright open fronts and gay 
lights displayed the interior glories of the " Alhambra," " Mag- 
nolia," "Salt Lake Billiard Rooms" and half a dozen other places 
of resort, and for two or three squares Main Street was emphati- 
cally an eastern — more than all, a Gentile — institution. At 
least ten thousand miners were at work in this, Toelle and Juab 
Counties, and a financial, social, and political revolution was in 
such rapid progress that the actors therein stood amazed at their 
own work. That revolution has continued, but more slowly; 
never so fast as in 1871. Still the Mormon Church is the 
really dominant power; still it governs the city and Territory, 
though the popular exclusiveness is yielding so fast that the 
priesthood are alternately in rage and desj)air. Revolutions 
invariably bring hidden evils to the surface, and the Mormons 
show eager haste in pointing out the bad effects of whic^h a few 
have followed this great influx. The evil must come with the 
good. On either side of the dead-line of moral mediocrity and 
religious formalism, lies a broad field of evil or good ; and it is 
impossible to open to a man the highest range of the one with- 
out leaving him free to enter the other if so he will. Mormon- 
ism boasted that it had produced a city of quiet and order; and 
so it had — the quiet of mental stagnation ; the order of a perfect 
religious couformity, of a system which brooked no schism and 
of which the advocates " knew they were right, and wanted no 



250 ARRIVAL AT "FRISCO." 

one about who did not think as they." With more liberty for 
action has come more license, and in the period of transition, 
evil is more noisy and demonstrative. But the Liberals of 
Utah need not shrink from the comparison. Surely it must be 
more pleasing to God and to intelligent men, that some should 
freely and willingly do right, tliough others with equal freedom 
do evil, than that all should be cast in the mould of an iron- 
bound necessity — a cold, compressed union, under a theocracy 
which ever boasted that it prevented some evils, because it 
tolerated no individuality, and allowed no evil i)ut its own. 

This was one of the good points of Mormonism : the Church 
monopolized the crime. She punished unsparingly whatever 
was not done by her order. She permitted crime to run in cer- 
tain channels, but she resolutely kept it there. Now that the 
Church monopoly is broken, individual sinfulness is more open, 
noisy and apparent; but the aggregate, I am sure, will average 
for the better. 

To such conclusions did I come on my third visit to Utah. 
Our trip thence to "Frisco" was uneventful. Late in the 
afternoon of a bright August day we left the cars, under the 
clear sky and in the warm air, at Oakland, and stean)ed over 
the Bay into the cold, chilly evening fog of San Francisco. 
There we enjoyed ourselves three days and made ready for the 
grand tour to the Yosemite and other wonders of the Sierras. 




THE CALIFORNIA GRIZZLY BEAR. 




CHAPTER XY. 

WONDERS OF THE SIERRAS. 

Off for Calaveras— The route — Cojiperopolis — Up the Sierraa — First view of th* 
Grove — Particular trees— Emotions excited— Route thence to Yosemite — Table 
Mountain — Bret Hart« — Terrible descent — Into the Valley — A world of won- 
ders — Fatigue and reflection — Description impossible. 

LL aboard for Yosemite and the Big Trees! How the 
mind swells as these words are called throuofh the 
hotel, and the fancy paints what is to come : visions of 
giant vegetation and wondrous woods; of riotous nature 
in a tropical clime and fertile soil, exceeding all the 
wonders of romance with growing reality ; of rocky canons and 
happy valleys ; of glacier-hewn cliiFs, reared thousands of feet 
ill the air; of waterfalls and mirror lakes; of immense flumes, 
cut by living streams in the solid granite; of majestic falls, and 
crystal cascades foaming from a hundred hills. 

But between us and these wonders intervene many miles of 
wearisome travel, days of toil and nights of broken rest. Before 
my visit I wondered that so many excursionists visited Califor- 
nia, and never went to Yosemite or the Big Trees. I wonder 
no longer ; for the trip is one which may well make the most 
hardy hesitate, though truly assured that in the end he shall see 
wonders that have no equal upon this planet. Two hundred 
and fifty miles of staging u])on the rocky Sierras, beneath an 
August sun, and half the time enveloped in red dust, are enough 
to make one seriously ask. Does it pay to visit Yosemite? 

We leave chilly " Frisco" at 4 P. m., and spend the night at 
Stockton, experiencing in that short distance about as great a 
change of climate as if we should go in April from Chicago to 
New Orleans. Thence at daylight we take the Stockton and 

251 




252 



A DESIRABLE COMPANION. 



253 



Copperopolis Railroad, which 
t* to run to the latter place, 
on the lower foothills of the 
Sierras, but does run to Milton, 
where the foothills begin. In 
California, everything under 
two thousand feet high is 
called a hill ; if it leads up to 
a mountain, a foothill. At 8 
o'clock of a sultry morning we 
take the stage at Milton and 
strike northeast, over a dusty 
road, cheered at rare intervals 
by a transient breath of wind. 
Of a car full of excursionists, 
but two were ready to start 
now : myself and scientific 
companion, Mr. J. W. Book- 
waiter, of Springfield, Ohio, 
who has earned an honorable 
place in the history of our 
State. Fourteen years ago, he 
and I left our homes in the 
Wabash Valley for the Michi- 
gan University, and surely two 
poorer or more thorough 
" Hoosiers " never entered that 
far-famed in.stitut€. We cal- 
culated the very interest on 
shoe-leather, and studied how 
to rest our arms on a writing- 
desk 60 as to least wear out 
our sleeves. Eight years after- 
ward, Mr. Book waiter was a 
noted inventor; in 1866 he 
became the managing head and 
principal stockholder in the 




A MONSTEU, 



254 



NO KETCH UM. 





HYDRAULIC MINING. 



" Leffel Turbine Water-wheel Company/^ of Springfield, and 
has accumulated, in seven years, a fortune of over half a million. 
The company have five thousand wheels at work in various 
parts of the world. Such a success is an omen of good to 
young men of inventive genius, and a subject of just pride to 
our State. Mr. Bookwalter, while still young, is the embodied 
romance of mechanical genius, and, to use a hackneyed phrase, 
one of the rising young men of Ohio. We mingle science and 
literature to beguile the weary way, as our route is over barren 
hills and rocky flats to Copperopolis, where we find a sort of 
oasis, and take a sort of dinner. This is one of the dead mining 
towns of the Sierras, built in the " great copper excitement." 
All around town we see the old copper works, long abandoned, 
and the general aspect is of tumble-down and decay. The his- 
tory of this experiment, as that of thousands of others hereabout, 
is, as summed up by the Piute comment: " Koshbannim ! heap 
money spend; goddam, no ketch 'um." 



GOOD FOR THE LlVKli. 



255 



From noon till 5 p. m. we endure tiie thumping of a Concord 
couch over the Sierra spurs, those within frying, those without 
broiling; in valleys where the thermometer stands in dead 
air at 100°, or over ridges where the stifling dust is miti- 
gated sometimes by a gentle breeze. 
This all the way to Murphy's, another 
old mining town, where we receive the 
cheering intelligence that the real trou- 
ble of the route is about to begin. We 
ciiange from the coach to a " mountain- 
wagon " — so-called — a street hack with 
three seats and no springs. There is 
no use for any, they would not last, and 
the passengers cnnnot keep their seats 
half the time anyhow. It's a capital 
thing for a torpid 
liver. In this we 
mai<e the remaining 
fourteen miles to the 
Grove. Despite the 
jolting I prefer the 
change. We leave 
the dust behind ; 
there is not soil 
enough on the route 
to create it. We 
run beside clear, 
cold streams. W^e 
are in a region of 
cool airs. We are 
shaded by rocky 
cliffs, or on the 

levels by tall timber ; and the wild, ever-varying beauty of gorge, 
crag, or wooded flat makes me forget fatigue. It is evening, too ; 
all the way up hill, necessitating slow driving, 'and giving 
time in the calms to look about. 

The vegetation begins to change rapidly. The shrubby man- 




THE TWO GUARDSMEN. 



256 



IN TALL TIMBER. 




A COTILLON PARTY DANCING ON THE BIAMMOTH TREE. 



zanita, dwarfish oak, and arrowwood disappear, and we are in 
a magnificent forest of tall trees without underbrush. Every 
mile the trees increase in size; the smallest we see for hours 
are three or four feet in thickness, and nature seems to usher us 
in through fitting portals to the wonders that are to come. The 
big trees do not stand alone in grandeur, as I had supposed; 
but, for twenty miles around, vegetation shades oif gradually in 
forests of immense pines. At last we reach the borders of 
" The Grove " par excellence, while there is still light euough 
to appreciate its glories. 

There they stand, the vegetable wonders of the world, in the 
gathering twilight, some in clusters, joining their branches like 
the columns of great gothic arches reaching away to prop the 
firmament, or now and then one isolated and stretching out 
gaunt arms and opening boughs as if it would drink the clouds. 
The majority appear stumpy and truncated, too thick for their 
length ; but others stretch away in long, graceful columns of 
arborescent proportions, hight, thickness, and branches, all in 
such perfect correspondence, that half the effect of their size is 
lost. Indeed, they do not look at first sight nearly so large as 
they are ; there is such harmony in adjacent trees, and between 
different parts of the same tree, that the sense of size is lessened 
by that of elegant uniformity. But many of the trees of two 
or three hundred feet in hight, have a decidedly stumpy ap- 
pearance, looking like gigantic stubs rather than trees. At first 
view it seemed to me the tops must have been broken off. The 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS. 257 

branches add much to this illusion from the fact that they bend 
downward, starting even from the body of the tree at an angle 
of twenty degrees below the horizontal. This, I am told, is 
caused by the weight of winter snows, continued annually 
through all the thousands of years of their growth. The 
smallest of these adjacent trees in an Ohio forest would create 
astonishment; yet here they appear trifling, as mere stri])lin2;s 
shading off and filling nature's intervals between the mammoths 
and common underbrush. Strangest of all, other things appear 
much dwarfed. As the coach drives between the " Two 
Guardsmen," at the entrance of the Grove, the horses appear 
like mere ponies, shrunk to half their natural size. My com- 
panion, as he leans against the monstrous trunk, and extends his 
arms for me to judge its width by them, appears a mere mannikin ; 
the smallest tree, one I had guessed at four feet, spreads a foot 
or two on either side beyond the natural reach of his fingers, 
and dwarfs him amazingly by comparison. Here is the place 
for man to realize his littleness. In the evening shades of 
these green arches, how naturally the mind reverts to thoughts 
of the vast, the unchangeable, the infinite. Heaven itself seems 
nearer in our thoughts ; riotous mirth is hushed ; solemn awe 
fills the soul, and in low-toned exclamations alone we briefly 
converse. 

But forty miles of staging over boulders and rocky uj)-grade, 
Avith dust enough in us to start a second Adam, incline our 
party to think more of supper and bed, than of the biggest trees 
nature can produce. These comforts, first-class, are found at the 
Big-Tree Hotel, and for a summer resort one can spend weeks 
very pleasantly there. Daylight at 4.30 A. M. shone through 
the green arches with a new and wondrous beauty, and we 
awoke to the contemplation of a new world, another creation as 
it were, where nature seems to have proceeded on a special 
plan, too Cyclopean for the common world outside. 

Of course, the first object for to-day is the great fallen tree 
and stump, the latter now covered with a handsome summer- 
house^ and fitted up as a pavilion for dancing. On the Fourth 
of July a cotillon party of thirty-two persons danced upon the 
'l7 



258 



THE " BUTT CUT." 



stump, and had abundant room for the musicians and a dozen 
spectators. The tree, as it stood, was 302 feet in hight, and 96 
feet in circumference, 3 feet from the ground. But there is a 
little of the " brag " in this measurement, as most of these trees 
spread greatly near the ground, and do not assume a symmetri- 
cal and tree-like shape before reaching the height of 10 feet or 
more. The stump has a surface 25 feet in diameter, to Avhich 
must be added 3 feet in a state of nature for the bark, which 

was 18 inches thick, 
giving a total 
diameter of 28 feet. 
Five men were 
twenty days in fell- 
ing it — a great piece 
of vandalism, nay 
of sacrilege, in my 
humble opinion. 
But, after due con- 
sideration the pro- 
prietors concluded 
that the ends of 
science — particu- 
larly the science of 
pecuniary transfer 
— would be more 
fully secured by 
sending the bark 
and sections of the 
tree to the Eastern 
States and to Eu- 
.rope for inspection ; and it was not till this was done that the 
public, generally, wei'e quite convinced of the existence of such 
wonders. The work was done with long augurs boring it off 
little by little; but when entirely sovererl, such was the perfect 
plumb of trunk and branches, that, to the amazement of spec- 
tators, the tree merely settled down and still stood, as if refusing, 
conscious of its majesty, to bow to human endeavors. Vast 




AUGUK-IIULE8 TIinoUGII THE ORIGrXAL BIG 
THEE (showing HOAV IT WAS FELLED). 



LARGE FIGURES. 



259 



wedges were then inserted on the northern side and driven 
little by little till, heaved beyond the line of gravity, the 
mighty growth came crashing to the ground. It would seem 
that nature must have yielded an audible groan at this desecra- 
tion. 

A bowling alley was constructed upon the upper portion of 
tlie trunk, but not proving remunerative, has been removed. 
Tiie "butt cut" of the tree lies as it fell, the top reached by 
means of a ladder ; tiien a large portion is gone, sawn out in 
foot sections and transported Eastward. The " Father of the 
Forest," largest of all the trees, is also prostrate and slightly 
buried in the ground, having evidently fallen many years 
before the Grove was dis- 
covered (1852). Its circum- l^^^^^^^^-^^^SiWim^m 
ference at the base is 110 
feet ; thence it is 200 feet 
to the first branch, the tree 
hollow all that distance, and 
through this tube I can 
easily walk erect. Unlike 
the other, it was evidently 
much decayed, and was 
broken by its fall, besides 
b r e a king do w n several 
smaller trees with it. By 

the stumps of these it is known to have been at least 420 feet 
in hight, and may have been considerably more. Near its 
base is a never-failing spring of clear, cold water. 

"The Mother of the Forest," so named from two round 
protuberances on one side, is the largest tree now standing. 
The bark has been removed to the hight of 116 feet, but 
without it the tree is 84 feet in circumference at the base. 
Twenty feet from the base it measures round 69 feet, and thus 
on, decreasing with elegant regularity to the hight of 321 feet, 
making this the most symmetrical of all the larger trees. And 
for this reason its vastness is seldom appreciated at first view. 
In such fine harmony, the sense of immensity is lost. It is 




THE FALLEN MONARCH. 



260 



"mother of the forest." 



not until one has rounded the tree many times and viewed it 
from different points that one comprehends all its grandeur. 
The bark was from ten to twenty-four inches thick, bulging 
outwardly in a succession of ellipsoids around the trunk. Ten 
feet from the base this tree would "square" twenty feet, to use 
a sawyer's piirase ; and taking this with a length of o20 feet, 
gradual decline, a practical lumberman of our party estimates 

that it must contain 
at least five hundred 
and twenty thousand 
feet of sound inch 
himber ! This seems 
utterly incredible, but 
the rules of mensur- 
ation show it beyond 
a doubt. Next in 
order, as in interest, 
is (or are) the " Hus- 
band and Wife," a 
noble pair of saplings, 
each GO feet around 
the base, and 250 in 
hight, growing near 
and bending lovingly 
toward each other 
till their upper bran- 
ches are completely 
mingled in a dense 
wooden and leafy 
mass — a tall, lithe, 
well-proportioned, graceful pair, suj)porting a heavy progeny 
of branch and leaf, sufficient to shade an assemblage of five 
thousand persons. 

Near by is the "Burnt Tree," prostrate and hollow, into 
which one can ride on hoivseback for sixty feet. Across the 
roots it measures thirty-nine feet, and from all indications its 
hi^'-ht must have been over three hundred feet. The "Horse- 




THE pioneer's CAmN : " ROOM FOR 
TWELVE INSIDE." 



NATURE OF THE TRESS. 



261 



■^?*s> 




SOMETHING OF A STUMP. 



back ride " is also hollow its entire length ; in the narrowest 
part the interior is twelve feet wide, and can be traversed from 
end to end. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is a hollow stump in 
which twenty-five persons can be comfortably seated ; while 
near by the "Three Sisters" stand side by side in graceful 
amplitude, each twenty feet thick and 200 feet high, of exact 
proportions and equidistant from base to crown. 

The trees are mammoth redwoods, assigned by botanists to a 
class known as Sequoia gigantea. In an elaborate description, 
written soon after discovery, a patriotic JEnglish scientist chris- 
tened them the Wellingtonia gigantea. This roused the jealous 
ire of a California savan, who, in a ludicrous spasm of national 
pride, gave them the specific title of Washingtonia gigan- 
tea. But by common consent they are now known by the 
name first mentioned. Like all other timber of the Taxodium 
genus, they are but little^ subject to decay, and the most im- 
paired of the fallen trunks has undoubtedly been prostrate for 
many hundred years. In this dry air, at an elevation of three 



262 



AGE OF THE TREES. 



thousand feet above sea level, with drought in summer and 
snow in winter, and only the light rains of spring and autumn, 
decay requires long periods, compared to which a human life 
seems practically naught. 

We have gazed long upon these botanic marvels, and still 
new beauties appear at each new study ; 
but it is when we come to estimate their 
age that amazement reaches its climax, and 
we can truly compare the duration of these 
monstrous trunks with man's brief period 
of growth and decay. The trees of this 
genus require twenty years to increase one 
inch in diameter; the bark twice as long 
to gain the thickness of a knife blade; the 
timber, in a drying air, will not perceptibly 
decay within the lifetime of man. By these 
and many other signs, more than all 
by the number of annular rings, it is 
demonstrated that 
the largest of the 
Sequoias must be 
three thousand years 
old. Think of it; 
outlasting ninety 
average generations 
of men. And the 
fallen ones are prob- 
ably a thousand 
years older. 

When our fore- 
fathers landed on 
Plymouth Rock the 
largest of these had long attained its growth, and was harden- 
ing into solid maturity. For how many centuries did the 
Indian contend with grizzly bear and mountain lion through 
these shades, before the pale face came to gaze with the en- 
lightened wonder of a superior race? Could these whispering 




L__^^^^^ ^,'*f':^^!^*>^' 



FIRST LOO HUT IX MARIPOSA GROVE. 



STRANGE COTEMPORARIES. 263 

boughs before my chamber window, now sighing in the evening 
breeze of the Sierras, but drop intelligible words, what of 
primeval history might they not tell — of combats of savage 
boasts or equally savage men. When Magna Charta was 
signed, these giants were already of size sufficient to have 
astonished all the Barons at Runnymede, familiar as they 
doubtless were with the great oaks of Boscobel and Epping 
Forest. When Rome yielded to the Goth, the " Fatiier of the 
Forest," grown old and decrepid, was tottering to his fall. 
When Rome was founded, the "Burnt Tree" was still a vig- 
orous sapling, rearing his head two hundred feet upon a body 
of ten feet diameter, and when the Saviour bowed his head on 
Calvary, we may well believe that here a mighty forest groaned 
and shuddered in the throes of universal nature. Nay, when 
Solomon sent to Lebanon for cedars and Hiram rafted him 
"curious woods" from Tyre, had navigation so far extended, 
he might here have found solid redwoods of size sufficient for 
the heaviest beams of the "House of God." V/hen Homer 
sung of Troy, this grove was already a wonder, and when 
Horace delighted himself in the Sabine Woods, here were 
trunks to put to shame the largest oaks of the Apennines. 

And yet these are not the oldest trees in the world. In 
Africa there grows a species of mimosa which, by the same 
indications, is proved to be six thousand years old. A sapling 
when Adam was a stripling ! There seems to be no satisfactory 
theory to account for their growth here. Climate and fertile 
soil may have done much ; but I incline to the belief that they 
are a sort of relict of the age w-hen all vegetation was gigantic; 
as one age of geology must have subsided with easy grades to 
the next, we may have here the last vegetable survivors of the 
age just before us, and after their fall, no more big trees. Eight 
miles south of here is another collection, known as the South 
Grove, and containing thirteen hundred and eighty trees in 
close order, averaging larger than these, but the largest a foot 
or two less than the largest here. But we have seen enough 
for the present to fill the mind with images for years, and weary 
us in conjecture. Time presses, and with to-morrow's earliest 
light we are off for Yosemite. 



264 



ROUTE TO YOSEMITE. 



From the Big Trees we take the new or mountain road to 

Yosemite; instead of going back to the valley we start directly 

southward across Table Mountain, the Stanislaus, Tuolumne 

and smaller streams. This route takes in the mining and fruit 

region, and a specimen of all that has 

made California famous, embracing more 

of nature's curiosities than any I have 

^r ever traveled. The Sierras have a general 

^" course from north to south, and a hight 




liRIDAL, VEIL FALL. 

of from ten to fourteen thousand feet; and from them a succes- 
sion of rivers put out westward, each marking in its upper 
part the course of a mountain gorge or clear-cut canon, widen- 
ing westward to a broad valley bounded by slopes and foot- 
hills of genial clime and rare fertility. Between this and the 



THE CORRECT PRONUNCIATION. 265 

ocean is the Coast Range, nearly half the hight of the Sierras, 
shutting off the sea breeze and accompanying fog; and be- 
tween these lies the great interior valley, which is, in fact, 
California, or four-fifths of it. Hence the State has three 
grand divisions of climate: First, the Coast climate, damp all 
the year from ocean mists, cool in summer and warm in winter, 
with perennial pastures; second, the interior climate, hot and 
dry in summer and w^arm and wet in winter, and lastly the 
mountain-valley climate. Of thirty different valleys opening 
out of the Sierras, each has a specific climate, from those with 
four months' snow to those where ice is never formed. Our 
southward route, one-third the way up the Sierras, involves 
great variety, taking us across deep gorge and abrupt gulch, 
varied by side canon and fertile valley. We come back on the 
Big Tree road as far as Vallecito, Mhere we change to a light 
wagon to cross Table Mountain and the Stanislaus. 

Speaking of special places, the various names herein used 
are either Spanish or Indian, and pronounced as follows : 8tan- 
is-lowh, Val-le-cee-to, Tu-o^-un-ny, Mo-Z;eWun-ny, Gar-ro-ta, 
Man-zan-ee-ta, Cap-i-ton, Mer-ceed, and Yo-sem-i-ta. 

After passing Table Mountain we come upon a precipice 
where the eye, glancing downward two thousand feet, perceives 
the Stanislaus like a narrow silvery band flowing down a rocky 
trough. But how shall we reach it, is the question ; for the 
sides of this forbidding gulch stand at a threatening angle of 
at least seventy degrees, and, excej)t the sharp turn to our left, 
where the road seems to disa[)pear in the rock, there is no 
trace of passage. In fact the stage road is but a series of 
grooves cut zigzag into the solid rock or mixed earth and 
boulders: first to the right a hundred yards or so, then where 
a flat projection affords a turn, the same to the left, then right 
and left alternate, a series of monstrous Zs with track ten feet 
wide and grade of one foot in four, reducing the seventy-degree 
angle of the mountain side to a series of passable rocky inclines. 
Down this combination of dips, sj>urs, angles, and sinuosities 
the driver takes us at full trot, with all lines taut and foot on 
brake, ready to check at a moment's notice ; for an instant 



266 ON THE STANISLAUS. 

moderating to a walk as we make the outward turn on some 
rocky flat, then loosing his team to a full run as we shoot into 
the inward grooves, the coach bounding over boulders or re- 
acting from the stone bulwarks which line the most dangerous 
places. We cringe and close our eyes in many places, or cling 
to the side of the coach, half ashamed of the fear our acts 
betray ; but before w6 can question or exclaim a dozen times, 
we are at the bottom and ready to ferry the Stanislaus. The 
narrow band, as seen from above, has widened to a considerable 
river, now quite low ; but in winter and spring the melting 
snow from the notched hills six thousand feet above, swells this 
stream to a destructive torrent, rising fifty feet above its present 
level. On the south side another mountain-grooved road leads 
up twenty-five hundred feet to the divide between the Stanis- 
laus and Tuolumne. No running here, but with slow steps the 
steaming horses drag us along, and we lounge back over the 
coach seats, gazing alternately at frowning cliffs above and the 
river sinking in dim perspective below. Half way up our 
intelligent driver stops to point out, down a side gulch, the 
cabin where Bret Harte lived when he wrote his first notable 
piece, " The Row upon the Stanislaus." Written as a mere 
local amusement, and tossed about from camp to camp, it has 
since become famous, and the manuscript is carefully preserved 
in the archives of the district. No wonder that California is 
producing a new race of original poets ; for, surely, if a man 
have the poetic instinct, this clime and scenery will bring it 
out in tropic luxuriance, and cause his genius to put forth won- 
drous growths of freshness and quaint originality. This society, 
these scenes and this clime — Italy and Switzerland combined — 
are the true home of poetry and romance. 

Two hours of toil bring us to the summit and thence down 
a barren hollow a sudden turn reveals an oval valley of rare 
beauty, in the midst of which is the pretty town of Columbia, 
fourteen miles from where we changed coaches. Here we enter 
the great region of placer and drift mining, once alive with 
twenty thousand miners and musical with the hum of aw 
exciting and curious industry. For six miles we run among 



MINING DITCHES. 267 

washed out placers, beds of "tailings" and "poor dirt;" wind 
around sluice-boxes, or cross ditches which lead in the water 
from a main canal which begins fifty miles up tiie Stanislaus. 
At intervals all day we encounter the great ditch of the " Union 
Water Company," sometimes winding along the mountain side 
in rocky flumes, sometimes passing beneath us in deep cuts 
through narrow ridges, and as often far above our heads in mid- 
air aqueducts — carried on trestlework for hundreds of feet across 
a rocky hollow — to me a curiosity almost as great as any in the 
scenery. This ditch, built by an incorporated company at an 
expense of two million dollars, begins at the very head of the 
Stanislaus, where that stream is formed by affluents from the 
melting snows of the Sierras. It is sixty miles in length, 
winding a devious course to preserve its level, along the moun- 
tains and through gorges down to the foothills; furnishes water 
to a hundred mining camps, and at last, after being used, col- 
lected, cleared in reservoirs and used again half a dozen times, 
its water, yellow with the refuse of pay dirt or red with iron 
dust, spreads in a dozen irrigating streams upon the lower 
valley. Careful study to select the route, skilful engineering 
to lay it out, economy of space and material, perseverance and 
capital — all spurred on by the love of gold — combined to pro- 
duce the work. 

Mining here began with the " rocker," many of which we 
see even now rotting along the gulches ; next came the *' long 
torn " which shares the same fate, and lastly was introduced 
"piping" and complete hydraulic mining. Little by little 
this great industry has passed away ; the works are fallen to 
decay; the placers are mostly worked out; three-fourths of the 
mining camps are abandoned, with picks and "long toms" 
lying among rocks and debris, and California from an annual 
production of forty millions in gold has sunk to half that 
amount. "Ranching" came next, and all this industry is not 
lost; the flumes and water are used for irrigation, without which 
the smaller vegetables and fruits are not a perfect success. 
Still mining continues in many places, enough for us to witness 
the method. Along the rocks or columns of dirt left for the 



268 



PLACER MINING. 



purpose, extend piping-troughs, and the sluice-boxes into which, 
running full of water, the miners shovel the auriferous dirt; 

the collecting boxes 
are lined on the bot- 
tom with "cleats" 
into which the 
gold falls by its 
greater specific 
gravity, while the 
dirt is washed 
away. Even thus 
did the Col chic 
miners of three 
thousand years ago 
bury the fleeces of 
sheep in streams 
flowing the golden 
sands of Pactolus; 
and the " voyage 
of Jason and the 
Argonauts " is no 
doubt a poetic 
account of the 
"49-ers" of Greece, 
who went for the 
''Golden Fleece" 
and came home 
shorn. 

Six miles through 
old mines bring us 
to Sonora, where 
we change gladly 
to a "Concord 
coach." This val- 
ley opening to the 
southwest, with an Italian clime, is glorified by flowers of all 
hues. Here we see giant oleanders, fifteen feet high, which 




CATHEDRAL, ROCKS. 



SONORA. 269 

grow out dooi-s all the year, and gardens excelling the utmost 
flights of my fancy. Apples, peaches, pears, apricots, figs, 
damsons, grapes, and quinces, we see growing luxuriantly in 
the same inclosure, many now ripe and affording most grate- 
ful refreshment to our heated excursionists. All along the 
route to Yoseniite fruit is abundant and cheap — all one can cat 
for ten cents — growing even to within half a day's staging 
of the valley. 

But here this beauty is brief Right beside these blooming 
gardens, right up against the walls, are worked out mines, 
hundreds of acres of bare boulders in beds, all the soil "piped " 
away in search of the "pay dirt," which lies below the soil and 
upon the rocks. A massive brick church stands in the south 
part of the town, around it lies an acre of ground dotted with 
tombstones, tlie city grave-yard, and up to the very walls of 
the inclosure the dirt is washed away down to an unsightly 
mass of bare, gray rocks, leaving the church-yard by rare 
grace perched upon an eminence ten feet above the placer flats. 
There the rude forefathers of this mountain hamlet — dead 
miners by scores — lie in "pay dirt" — fit resting place — and 
their living companions seem to have barely respected their last 
repose. Over all this region, with rare exceptions, is a peculiar 
air of abandon and decay; worked-out placers, deserted cabins, 
dry flumes and sluice-boxes falling to pieces look as though 
the site were haunted by the ghost of former prosperity. Fif- 
teen miles of comfortable staging in the valley of the Tuolumne 
bring us to Chinese Camp, originally settled by Mongolians 
working "old diggings," but since mining gave place to agri- 
culture, settled by the whites. A few hundred Chinese remain, 
and as we pass the outskirts of the town, we note a rude frame 
tent and beside it a dozen China women chattering and how- 
ling alternately, and learn that a sick Chinaman has been 
removed there to die. These people never allow one to die in 
their dwellings if possible to prevent it. When past all hope the 
sick man is removed to a rude outhouse, all his bedding and 
all clothing he has worn since sickness are burned, and, if 
means permit, the dead Celestial is boxed air-tight and returned 



270 



HIGH STAGING. 



to the Flowery Kingdom ; for it is only from that favored soil 
he can, without long probation, rise at once to the Happy A\'est- 
ern Region of Low Chee and Taoutse. Even then he cannot 
become a Boodh and enjoy supreme repose — eternal nothing- 
ness — until he has undergone a thousand transmigrations in the 
bodies of horned cattle, beasts, and creeping things. All this 
to sink at last — soul-frighting thought — in the chilling waves 
ofaniiihilation ! 

At Chinese Camp we 
c ha Hire aijain to the 
stoutest wagon manu- 
factured ; for, we are 
kindly assured, all that 
has gone before is but 
child's play compared 



to the racking we are 
to suffer between this 
and Tamarack Flat. 
Fifteen miles of stony 
up-grade bring us to 
Garrote, which we reach 
at 9 P.M., and sink 
gladly to rej)ose. It 
seems that we have but 
closed our eyes to half- 
forget in sleep the beau- 
ties or toils of the way, 
when at 3 A.M. the call comes to take a fresh start. We take 
the invariable "eye-opener" of California white wine, cooled 
with snow from the Sierras, used here instead of ice, and after 
a hasty breakfast are off into a dense forest, the daylight break- 
ing grandly through the green arches, and casting great scallops 
of light and shade in fine effect to cheer the still sleepy travel- 
ers. We are out of the foothills, and upon the spurs of the 
mountains. The streams are clear as crystal and delightfully 
cold, for we are far above the mining districts and near their 
snowy sources. 




A NATIVE or THE VALLEY. 



NATURE S MUSIC. 



271 



We have four of the stoutest mountain horses kept especially 
for this stage. A few scrub oaks of a foot or more in thickness 
are the only common timber we see, and vast forests of red- 
wood and sugar pine, from two to eight feet in thickness, shade 
the way. The air is delightful. The dust and heat of below 
give way to a cool breeze from the cliffs; for we are half way 
up the Sierras, and 
this giant vegeta- 
tion wards off* the 
fervid rays of a 
California sun. At 
every pause we hear 
a strange, solemn, 
murmur from far 
above our heads, a 
gentle swell and 
rustle as the moun- 
tain breeze thrills 
the tree-tops, like 
the far off" diapason 
of a monstrous or- 
gan, or a gentle tre- 
molo stealing upon 
the senses with a 
music all the more 
impressive that it 
cannot be analyzed 
or described. Mr. 
Bookwalter c o m - 
pares the scenery to 
that of a Florida 
forest of a winter 

morning. One by one all those who started with us have 
stopped for a few days' rest at Murphy's, Vallecito, or Sonora; 
but, being old travelers, we have passed on, and to-day have 
the coach to ourselves. 

Before noon we are in the edge of the Tuolumne Grove, and 




EL CAPITAN, 3300 FEET HIGH. 



272 TIMID TOURISTS. 

the driver having made good time, gives frequent halts for us 
to look about and gather curiosities. Many trees are as large 
as the average at Calaveras, but none within less than two or 
three feet of the largest there. Over all this part of the Sierras, 
probably forty miles each way, the timber is inmiense. We 
drive between two trees, each twenty feet in thickness. We 
find one stump forty feet high and twenty-six feet thick, and 
hundreds scattered for miles along the way from ten to eighteen 
feet thick, and from two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet 
high. If the traveler does not wish to make the diversion by 
Calaveras Grove, he can still enjoy the sight of tall timber 
here, on the direct route to Yosemite. Thirty-seven miles 
from Garrote bring us to Tamarack Flat, the highest point on 
the road, the end of staging, and no wonder. The remaining 
five miles down into the valley must be made on horseback. 

While transferring baggage — very little is allowed — to pack- 
mules, the guide and driver amuse us witli accounts of former 
tourists, particularly of Anna Dickinson, who rode astride into 
the valley, and thereby demonstrated her right to vote, drink 
"cocktails," bear arms, and worlv the roads, without regard to 
age, sex, or previous condition of servitude. They tell us with 
great glee of Olive Logan, who, when told she must ride thus 
into the valley, tried practising on the back of the coach seats, 
and when laughed at for her pains, took her revenge by sav- 
agely abusing everything on the road. When Mrs. Cady 
Stanton was here a few weeks since, she found it impossible to fit 
herself to the saddle, averring she had not been in one for thirty 
years. Our accomplished guide, Mr. F. A. Brightman, saddled 
seven different mules for her (she admits the fact in her report), 
and still she would not risk it, and "while the guides laughed 
behind their horses, and even the mules winked knowingly and 
shook tlieir long ears comically, still she stood a spectacle for 
men and donkeys." In vain the skilful Brightman assured 
her he had piloted five thousand persons down that fearful 
incline, and not an accident. She would not be persuaded, and 
walked the entire distance, equal to twenty miles on level 
ground. And shall this much-enduring woman still be denied 



FIRST VIEW. 273 

a voice in the government of the country? Perish the thought. 
With all these anecdotes I began to feel nervous myself, for I 
am but an indifferent rider, and when I observed the careful 
strapping, and saw that my horse was enveloped in a perfect 
network of girths, cruppers and circingles, I inquired diffi- 
dently, "Is there no danger that this horse will turn a somer- 
set with me over some steep point?" "Oh, no, sir," rejoined 
the cheerful Brightman, " he is bitterly opposed to it." 

With all set and everything tightly "cinched," we took the 
start with guide in front, finding the first mile and a half to 
Prospect Peak not particularly difficult. A sudden turn brings 
us in view of the valley, but little is to be seen as yet; then we 
emerge from the timber upon a shelving rock, and the guide 
stops for us to take our first view at Prospect Peak. We 
walked out upon the rock, which becomes level as M-e near the 
edge, with a feeling of disappointment; but suddenly, when far 
enough, to see below, we paused and trembled. Astonishment 
and awe kept us silent for a moment. At our feet yawned a 
chasm bounded on this side by a precipice with sheer descent 
of near two thousand feet ; on the other a mist-enveloped cas- 
cade poured from hights so high and dim, that to our eyes it 
seemed tumbling from the clouds. Far, far below, the Merced 
foamed through the rocky gateway which forms the outlet of 
the valley, while the whole wall below us seemed fringed with 
pines, jutting from every crevice, and growing apparently straight 
into the air from the solid wall of rock. The cliff, the falls, 
the frowning rocks, the wondrous gorge, all seemed to say, 
"Uncover in the presence of the Lord." 

We turn again to the left into a sort of stairway in the moun- 
tain side, and cautiously tread the stony defile downward ; at 
places over loose boulders, at others around or over the points 
of shelving rock, where one false step would send horse and 
rider a mangled mass two thousand feet below, and more rarely 
over ground covered with bushes and grade moderate enough 
to afford a brief rest. It is impossible to repress fear. Every 
nerve is tense; the muscles involuntarily make ready for a 
spring, and even the bravest lean timorously toward the moun- 
18 



274 A TERRIBLE DESCENT. 

tain side and away from the cliif, with foot loose in stirrup and 
eye alert, ready for a spring in case of peril. The thought is 
vain : should the horse go, the rider would infallibly go with 
him. And the poor brutes seem to fully realize their danger 
and ours, as with wary steps and trenmlous ears, emitting 
almost human sighs, with more than brute caution they delib- 
erately place one foot before the other, calculating seemingly at 
each step the desperate chances and intensely conscious of our 
mutual peril. Mutual danger creates mutual sympathy — every- 
thing animal, everything that can feel pain, is naturally cow- 
ardly — and while we feel a strange animal kinship with our 
horses, they seem to express a half human earnestness to assure 
us that their interest is our interest, and their self-preservative 
instinct in full accord with our intellectual dread. We learn 
with wonder that of all the five thousand who have made this 
perilous passage not one has been injured — if injured be the 
word, for the only injury here v/ould be certain death. One false 
step and we are gone bounding over rocks, ricocheting from 
cliffs, till all semblance of humanity is lost upon the flat rock 
below. Such a route would be impossible to any but those 
mountain-trained mustangs, to whom a broken stone staircase 
seems as safe as an ordinary macadamized road. 

At length we reach a })oint where the most hardy generally 
dismount and walk — two hundred feet descent in five hundred 
feet progress. Indeed half the route will average the descent 
of an ordinary staircase. Then comes a passage of only mode- 
rate descent and terror, then another and more terrible stair- 
way — a descent of four hundred feet in a thousand. I will not 
walk before and lead my horse, as does our guide, but trail my 
long rope halter and keep him before, — always careful to keep 
on the upper side of him, springing from rock to rock, and 
hugging the cliff with all the ardor of a young lover. For now 
I am scared. All pretense of pride is gone, and just the last 
thing I intend to risk is for that horse to stumble, and in fall- 
ing strike me over that fearful cliff. At last comes a gentler 
slope, then a crystal spring, dense grove and grass covered 
plat, and we are down into the valley. Gladly we take the 



LEVEL liKOUND AGAIN. 



275 




.SENTINEL ROCK. 



stage, and are whirled along; in the gathering twilight. To our 
right Bridal A^ail Fall, shedding a brilliant sheen in the twi- 
light; further up Inspiration Point, and to the left El Capitan 
rearing his bare, bald head three thousand three hundred feet 
above us, beautifully, purely gray, in clear outline against the 
rosy sky. Darkness shuts out all beauty by the time we reach 
Hutchings' Hotel, and we gladly sink to rest with little thought 
of the wonderland we are in. 



276 



WONDER-WORLD. 




THE YOSEMITE FALLS. 



We rise to view a new creation — as it seems — a wondrous rift 
in the earth, a great void five miles long and one and a-half wide 
in the center, walled in by ever-enduring granite three thousand 
feet high, impassable but at a few points, with rocky, narrow 
outlet westward and two sharp inlets from the eastward, where 
the Merced pours down from snowy peaks still eight thousand 
feet hio-her. Here is a minor cosmos, shut off from the greater, 



THE GREAT FALL. 277 

where nature seems to have proceeded on a more extensive plan, 
as if determined to outiloall in the outer world of common-place. 
A forenoon we give to rest and gazing, for there is enough to be 
seen for that time from the porch of the hotel. After noon we 
start out northward, to the foot of Yosemite Falls, one and 
a half mile from us. The clifis in front rise nearly three thou- 
sand feet above us, and all along the perpendicular wall we see 
the marks of ancient glaciers and waves wearing smooth the 
rocky face; but above, where first the peaks rose from the sea 
of primal chaos, rough and frowning battlements attest the vio- 
lence of the rent which divided this from the southern side. 
About half way up the cliff is a small offset, where grows a 
beautiful pine, with branch and foliage forming a perfect cone, 
seeming like the larger growth of ornamental shrubbery. Yet 
that shrub is a monster tree, one hundred and sixty feet high, 
and above it the perpendicular cliff is just eleven times its hight. 
Go into the forests of Ohio or Indiana and select the tallest tree, 
and remember that the upper division merely of Yosemite Fall 
is at least ten times that hight ! Or imagine ten Niagaras piled 
one above another. 

A thick forest of pines and firs fills the center of the valley, 
and through it we follow up the bed, now almost dry, of 
Yosemite Creek, the boulders increasing regularly in size as we 
proceed, until at last the way is blocked by vast masses of 
granite, hurled, as in Titanic war, from the cliffs above. The 
immense wall gives back leaving an inlet into the mountain, 
the sides of which, like buttresses, approach each other at a 
sharp angle, and down one side of this inlet pours Yosemite, 
now shrunk to a mere rill. But in May and June the con- 
gealed floods on hights five thousand feet above are loosed and 
fill the high flume with a raging torrent. Then great liquid 
volumes fall from the first hight sixteen hundred feet, strike 
and break to a thousand splintered streams, lacing all the 
second fall for four hundred feet with dazzling lines of foam; 
then gather in another flume, take another plunge, and re- 
bounding from the cliff in a million comminuted streams, roar 
into the basin belww. Large logs from the mountain forests 



278 



A GENERAL VIEW. 




NORTH DOME AND IIOYAL ARClli:^ 



plunge a thousand feet without check and splinter to fragments, 
but sometimes pass entire and with myriad tumblings are drifted 
far down the plain. The three divisions of the fall measure 
respectively sixteen hundred, four hundred and thirty-four, and 
six hundred and thirty-three feet, making the total fall two 
thousand six hundred and sixty-seven feet. Climbing for two 
hours we reach the highest available ledge, inscribe our names 
and return. 

Wearied out with a day of sight-seeing I lie upon the porch 
at Hutchings', gaze and think. To the northwest is El Capi- 
tan, glorified in the soft moonlight; opposite Yosemite Fall, to 
the right the Royal Arches, over all this wondrous sky, and all 
around us monster battlements with shrubby fringe, till we 
seem to be walled in far down in the depths of the earth, shut 
out from human hope or help, and must involuntarily ask : 
What if ancient order suddenly return, and these cliffs unite as 
science tells us they were once united. 

But soon, as I gaze, all other thoughts become absorbed in 
one; through all my musing runs one central vein, an all- 
pervading, oppressive consciousness of time, the time required 
to produce all that is before me. Ages seem compressed into 
one moment of thought — countless cycles of years crystalizing 



IMMENSE TIME. 



279 





their results in my brain into one instant of swift conception. 
What ages of cosmic process were required to bring about this 
wondrous combination which I can survey in one quick glance; 
what infinite forces woricing silently in God's laboratory for 
inconceivable ages produced all tliis scene my eye can sweep 
over in ten seconds. What 
ai^es, what unendino- aeons of 
duration — an immensity clip- 
ped out of eternity — were re- 
quired to perfect this work. ^ 
Can the mind with utmost 
stretch revert to a period 
when all was ethereal, gase- '-^ 
ous ; when earth was a nel)u- 
lousmass; when Cosmos first 
had being — then the time re- 
quired for it to become a 
molten mass — the ages thence 
to solidity — the first crust — 
the shrinking, the ridging, 
the upheaval ; then the earth- 
quake wave which rent these 
cliffs asunder; then the con- 
vulsions lasting through mil- 
lions of years, and ending in 
the mighty subsidence in the 
bottom of this fissure crevice ! 
Then came the age of ero- 
sion, the glaciers successively 
writing their history on these 
rocky tablets; the ages of 
wear required to polish 
smooth these granite walls, 

and symmetrize the facings of the cliffs. At last came the age 
of disintegration, of mold, of soil, of growth, of animals, and 
last of all man — the last by all reasoning the shortest. 

And all this is a mere atom to Omniscience, a tip upon the 




SOUTH OK HALF DOME. 



280 DREAD ETERNITY. 

dial-plate of eternity : this work the littleness of Omnipotence. 

Read, ye that murmur at what men count slackness; bec^iuse 

veno-eance against an evil work is not executed speedily, because 

all seems as it did in the moral or material world — read in 

these eternal walls that witii God there can be no haste. Time 

is no element in Divine plans. Duration has no place in 

Heaven's problems. With him can be neither past, present, 

nor future ; an eternal NOW. From this sublime book get a 

faint idea of the infinite patience of the Eternal Mind. Then, 

from the immense past, come faint conceptions of the future 

eternity, and the mind shrinks back appalled — whose does not, 

let his hope or belief be what it may? — and seeks to dismiss the 

thought. All these cycles — a million years to wear one inch 

upon the brow of El Capitan — are but a dance upon the dial's 

point to the vast eternity. Awe seizes us at the thought, but 

we cannot sluit it out with those scenes in view ; and — dread 

thought — through all those ages, unending aeons, we must go 

on, on, ON. 

" Through what new changes must we pass, 
Through what varieties of untrieti being." 

And through all these changes we must still think, still act, 
still move, still put sequent to antecedent, still pursue some de- 
finite object, some final end and aim. Let us hope what we 
may, let our destiny be what it will — still our condition must 
be action, action, action. Eternal motion without ceasing. 
Heaven take away the thought in kindness ! I shrink from it 
appalled. While feeling its weight I could almost renounce im- 
mortality. Aye, give me, rather, give me annihilation — eternal 
repose — the final heaven of the Boodhists. But this horror is 
but for a moment. Reaction comes, and with it quiet and 
the pleasure of rest after fatigue. The mind is exhausted by 
striving to take in immensity; the eye is wearied with gazing, 
the body with unwonted fatigue; the soul swelled fi)r hours by 
lofty conceptions, reacts to earthly weakness : all clamor for 
rest and 

" Sweet sleep knits up the raveled skein of care." 




281 



282 MIRROR LAKE. 

No, not care, but rather that pain which comes of excess in 
ecstasy. 

The next day is set for the great excursion to Mirror Lake, 
Nevada and Vernal Falls; and at 5 a.m. the voice of the 
genial Hutchings.is heard ringing through our chambers in 
the distich with which he rouses the sleepy : 

" Oh, come ye down, my noble nob, 
The kettle's singing on the hob, 
The toast and cakes will all be spoiled, 
And every egg be over-boiled." 

A hasty breakfast, and off for the most toilsome and yet most 
enjoyable day to be spent in the valley. Saddles are carefully 
set and mules "cinched" with these mountain girths, eight 
inches wide, until it seems they can scarcely breathe ; for we 
are to have perils of water and mountain — perils by the way. 
We cross the crystal Merced of deceitful depth — it looks four 
feet and is really ten — and lively with mountain trout, in front 
of the hotel, and take our way eastward up the valley, with 
the Royal Arches ,,to our left. In some convulsion past the 
granite has fallen from the north side in successive sections in 
such shape as to form the likeness of five great arches, one 
within the other, half a mile long from west to east and rising 
in the center fifteen hundred feet. 

We found Mirror Lake simply a pretty mountain tarn of 
clear water, to my mind the least of all the wonders of Yo- 
seraite, though greatly praised. We are assured, however, that 
we saw it at a most unpropitious time. The day was not clear 
and the water was discolored — being low — by tamarack trees in 
its source at Lake Tinayah some miles above and eastward, in 
the very midst of snow-peaks. Standing on the northern shore 
we viewed reflected in the lake from right to left. South Dome, 
Old Man of the Mountains, Clouds Rest, Mount Watkins, and 
the Watch Eye, all notable and noble peaks upon the south side, 
rising from two thousand to four thousand feet above the cliffs 
that bound the valley. Crossing in a skiff to the south side we 
see reflected from the north. Mount Washington, Mount Cal- 
houn, and the far-reaching wall of the lower valley. The lake 



UP THE VALLEY. 



283 




VERNAL FALLS ; 350 FEET HIGH. 



is a great crystal map of all the adjacent hills and cliffs, beauti-. 
ful only because of beautiful surroundings, not remarkable in 
itself, but dazzling by reflection of greater glories. 

From Mirror Lake we come back on the same trail a little 
way, then straight south across the valley till we are directly 
under the southern cliff which, instead of being perpen- 
dicular, here overhangs and seems momentarily to threaten 
destruction; then eastward up what may be called the main 
branch of the Merced to the head of the valley. The smaller 
branch comes in from the northeast under the shadow of the 
North Dome and the Cap of Liberty — the last a wondrous cone 
rising directly from the north cliff, one thousand feet of beauti- 



284 CLIMBING MULE-BACK. 

fill yellow and smooth rock, completely inaccessible. From this 
side t-lie Merced plunges down from its source in the ice-peaks 
by two magnificent cataracts, Nevada and Vernal Falls, and a 
series of beautiful rapids and cascades between them. But 
there is no reaching the foot of the lower fall on horseback; 
we are to return by it from above, down a perilous stairway, 
and now must make a wide detour to scale the cliff, or first 
offset, which frowns two thousand feet above us. 

No possible passage is visible to our unaccustomed eyes; 
the side seems almost perpendicular, and when the guide tells 
us we are to "go up there," pointing with his fiuger at an 
angle of eighty to a flat projecting peak — seeming to our vision 
half way to the sky — we shake our heads incredulously. " But 
I have piloted two thousand people up there," says the con- 
fident Brightman, and we are reassured and follow him. I 
dare not venture on a description ; even now I can 'shut my 
eyes, see it all, and shudder. 

Imagine the route in, with all its difficulties doubled, and 
going up instead of down, and some faint idea may be formed. 
Here, we are told, there has been one accident. Three weeks 
before a saddle, not carefully girted, slipped back and the mule 
straightway went to "bucking;" the rider jumped off on the 
upper side, and the mule undertook to run down the mountain, 
but soon lost his footing and went rolling from rock to rock, 
till ricocheting one hundred feet from one offset, he fell upon 
the next flat with every bone splintered and his flesh reduced 
to jelly. "A plaguey good mule, too," says Brightman, pathet- 
ically, "worth one hundred and fifty dollars any day; and had 
a first-rate saddle on him smashed to giblets, not a piece as 
big as your pencil." This last with a voice of deep concern, as 
if cruel fate might have spared the saddle, even if she took the 
mule and rider. Two hours of this toil bring us upon the level 
above the Vernal, and turning a sharp rocky point, we come in 
sight of Nevada Falls, and in a few moments are directly at its 
foot — for here the approach is easy. All that we have seen 
seems as nothing to this, the largest and highest fall in one 
body. Rushing down a rocky flume from hights four thousand 



A SHEET OF FOAM. 



285 



feet above and miles away, the Merced comes clear as alcohol 
to the edge and takes the first plunge, four hundred feet clear; 
then dashes against the rocks, and rebounding in comminuted 
foam of dazzling 
white, then collect- 
ins again to a hun- 
dred tiny streams, 
it is off at last from 
the rocky face in 
filmy slanting lines 
of cloud and foam, 
transparent mists, 
so delicately flowing 
downward that one 
can scarcely say 
they move. The 
silvery sheen like a 
hanging crystal 
web, is lifted by the 
wind, swaying now 
against the rocks 
and now far out over 
the valley; then in a 
momentary calm 
falls back to break 
into a thousand 
transparent, fluted 
sections, creeping, 
gliding downward 

over the rocks in ever-unfolding, ever re- 
newing liquid lawn, in distant seeming like 
the mimic vails of the spectacular drama. 

While we view this scene with keen de- 
light, the howitzer is fired at the Mountain 
House across the gulch. The echo breaks sharply upon us 
from our side, and returns from Clouds Rest on the north ; 
then seems to die away amid peaks and hollows, but suddenly 




NEVADA FALLS, 
700 FEET HIGH. 



286 



I'l-WY-ACK. 



breaks again upon the startled ear, then repeats in slow declin- 
ing reports from peak, cliff and point, again to renew and again 
die away in a thousand repetitions of splintered sound. The 
effect of these sights upon different persons is a curious study. 
The noisy are still, the garrulous silent, and even the least 
profound are awed to a solemn reverence with something akin 
to fear. With people of deep emotional nature the eyes glis- 
ten, the body twitches, and the tears start; and one tourist, a 

Quaker lady from Philadel- 
l)hia, in common seeming most 
unmoved and impassive, fell 
upon her knees on the rock, 
and with mixed sobs and ejacu- 
lations prayed with the earn- 
estness of an exhorter, thank- 
ing God with streaming eyes 
and broken voice for having 
lived to see this sight. 

After a frugal dinner at the 
Mountain House — everything 
has to be packed thither on 
mules — we came down by the 
hand-rail beside Vernal Falls, 
while Brightman returns the 
mules by the other route as far 
as Registry Rock, the first point where we can 
meet him. Piwyack — " cataract of diamonds" 
— as the Ind ians call it, well deserves the name ; 
though known by the whites asVernal Fall, 
from the beautiful emerald tints it displays. 
It consists of one clear fall of three hundred and fifty feet, and- 
is accessible from more points than any other fall in the valley. 
The water starts fi'om the cliff in two great rocky flumes, 
twenty feet wide and perhaps a foot in depth ; but long before 
reaching the bottom is utterly broken into minutest fragments 
and rolled into one great airy sheet of foam ; snow-white and 
dazzling, bordered apparently by pearl-dust, it seems a column 




DOWN BY VER- 
NAL FALLS. 



GREAT KALEIDOSCOPE. 287 

of cloud breaking upon the rocks to light surf and starry crys- 
tals. As the foam floats upward the sky clears suddenly, and 
the sun pours a flood of bright rays into the gorge ; the dropping 
lines of emerald take on a brighter tint, and a rainbow in five 
concentric rings springs upon the sight. The wind sways back 
the gauzy column; the penciled rays lose their exact focus; the 
rainbows break into two, four, eight, an infinite division of 
iridic tints, and the whole presents a luminous aureole a hun- 
dred feet in diameter: another draft of air and we have a dis- 
solving view, then a lull, and back swings the fleecy foaming 
column in two bodies, and twice the number of circling rain- 
bows delight the eye. Back comes the wind and away swings 
the watery column, bringing again the double breaking lines 
of iridic tints ; the eye is relieved by new prismatic combina- 
tions, and the overwrought senses roused to new delight by 
fresh showers of more brilliant constellations. 

The stairways about Vernal Falls are well arranged, and the 
steps hewn in the rock afford many favorable points to view 
the entire fall. Gladly would we have lingered here, but the 
approach of evening called us away while our enjoyment was 
still at its hight. 

The hours of rest pass pleasantly at our hotel on the bahks 
of the pellucid Merced. The inhabitants are only second in 
interest to the valley. Mr. J. M. Hutchings walked in ten 
years ago and pre-empted the land where his hotel now stands. 
It was unsurveyed public land, and the State of California, to 
which this section was granted by Congress, disputes his title. 
He relies upon a clause in the law of 1841, giving title even on 
unsurveyed lands in case of a certain term of occupancy, and 
the question is still pending. Years ago he came in on snow 
shoes to see if the valley was habitable in winter, and soon after 
moved his family in. From May till October all is lively in 
the valley, then a gloom, born of perfect isolation, settles upon 
the place; and the few who winter through are as completely 
cut off' as one can imagine. Once a month or so, an Indian 
works his way down the south slope on snow-shoes, bringing in 
mail and taking out reports from the imprisoned. With three 



288 



PLEASANT QUAETERS. 




i 



hotels, a saw-mill and two ranches, some fifty persons reside in 
there, including thirty voters. For seven years Mr. Hutchings 
rode a hundred miles yearly to vote ; but lately a precinct has 
been established at his place. 

But the wonder — among the buildings of Yosemite — is the 
" Cosmopolitan," containing saloon, billiard hall, bathing rooms 
and barber-shop, established and kept by Mr. C. E. Smith. 
Everything in it was transported twenty miles on mules; mir- 
rors full-length, pyramids of elaborate glassware, costly service, 

the finest of cues and 
tables, reading-room 
handsomely f u r - 
nished and supplied 
with the latest from 
Eastern cities, and 
baths with unexcep- 
tionable surround- 
ings, attest the nerve 
and energy of the 
projector. It is a per- 
fect gem. The end 
of the wagon -road 
was twenty miles 
away when the enter- 
j)rise began, and yet 
such skill was used 
in mule-packing that 
not an article was 
broken. I have not 
seen a finer place of resort, for its size. The arrangements 
for living are such that one could spend the summer there 
delightfully, and we found several tourists who remained for 
weeks. Space forbids a full account of the sights upon the 
southern cliffs: of Pohono — "Spirit of the Evil Wind" — called 
by the whites Bridal Vail, a tiny stream with fall of 940 feet; 
of Lung-oo-too-koo-ya — " Long and Slender " — or the Ribbon 
Fall, amounting in different cascades to 3300 feet; of Tis-sa- 




LIBERTY CAP 



MT. BRODERICK). 



NO DESCRIPTION ADEQUATE. 289 

ack — " Goddess of the Valley " — or the South Dome ; or of Tu- 
lool-we-ack — " Tlie Terrible " — the wild, craggy gorge of South 
Canon. Nor is my pen equal to the task of doing justice to 
Tu-toch-ah-nu-la— '' Great Chief of the Valley "—or El Capi- 
tan, rising at something more than a perpendicular, leaning 
over the valley, to an elevation of 3300 feet ; nor to Wah-wah- 
le-na — "The Three Graces" — whose heads shine from a hight 
of 3750 feet. Vainly have I tried to convey some faint idea, 
and now drop my pen with a feeling of half despair. All that 
is to be seen elsewhere in our country seems to me as nothing 
— or fit only to be used as a basis of comparison, whence one 
may gain a faint idea of the lesser glories of Yosemite. All 
that the utmost stretch of fancy can picture of the giant-like, the 
colossal and Cycloi)oan, is but a shadowy conception of this im- 
mense reality. No descrii>tion has ever been written. None 
can be written on this earth. The subject is beyond the pro- 
vince of mere word-painting. A man must die and learn the 
language of the angels before he can describe Yosemite. 

19 



CHAPTER XYI. 

SKETCHES IX SAN FEAXCISCO. 

Return from Yosemite — Summary of trip — Does it j^ay ? — Climate of San Fran- 
(jisco — Of the State — Variety in " Frisco " — The Barbary Coast — Chinese 
Theatre^The Cliff House and Seal Rocks — Literature of the Pacific — Joaquin 
Miller — Frances Rose ilackinley — Moi'als and manners — Excitement and 
wearing out — An inventive Race — The Chinese again. 

.'^ ' 
i^fij/llUR return from Yosemite was still more exhaustive than 

the going, but fortunately not so long. Front the valley 
to Milton is two-thirds of the way down hill, and at a 
continuous run we made it in less than a day and a half 
— the distance which requires two long tiresome days in 
going up. We varied the route by taking a boat from Stockton 
to " Frisco," leaving the former place by the San Joaquin River 
at 5 P.M., and reaching the wharf of the city at 2 a.m. next 
morning. And having completed the trip, the question again 
seriously arises : Does it pay to visit Yosemite? The same route 
would be too laborious for any other curiosity that I know of, 
but one twice as long and toilsome would here be handsomely 
repaid. 

From Milton — present terminus of the Copperojiolis Rail- 
road — by the way of the Big Trees to Yosemite, is 150 miles; 
and from Yosemite back by Chinese Camp direct is 109 miles, 
making a total of staging of 259 miles. Add 100 by rail going 
to Milton, and twenty by rail and 100 by steamer returning, 
and we have a total of 220 by rail and steamer, and a grand 
total of 479 miles in going and return.* For all this 
hauling, Houseworth, Sisson & Co. charge us the moderate 

* There are two other routes. All needed information for tourists, with chart and 
guide, may be obtained by writing to Thomas Houseworth & Co., San Francisco. 
290 







^^ 



j| ,Hi,«il|i 



iiii: 



u 



'"%JfH If' tT'^ . 1 1 lili 



291 



292 REVIEM' OP" THE ROUTE. 

price of forty -six dollars per man. To this must be adiknl 
three dollars per day for necessaries upon the road, and the same 
ior each day in the valley for guide and horse; that is, if you 
go to see all that is there, and if you do not, you had better not 
go at all. But hundreds of visitors never go out of the little 
open flat around the hotel, contenting themselves with a general 
view of distant M'onders. Horace Greeley, when he visited the 
valley, rode sixty miles on horseback, though he had not beeu 
in a saddle for twenty years, reaching tlu; hotel at midnight com- 
pletely exhausted, and minus at least two square feet of abraded 
cuticle. He went sup})erless to bed, and having an engagement 
to fill, left at noon next day, and the second night thereafter 
lectured at a town nearly two hiuidred miles away. When the 
railroad is completed southward to the Merced, it is estimated 
that a first-class stage road could be built from the crossing right 
up the Merced to Yosemite, for $100,000, and certaiidy the 
State could not make a better investment. The road would 
have to be blasted out of the foot of the cliffs along the gate- 
May, where the Merced flows out of Yosemite; below, the grade 
would not be difficult, and it would save two-thirds of the wear 
at present required. All that man can do has been done on the 
])resent route, and still the trip is very exhausting. We find 
four changes of climate: high uj) the Sierras it is cool and 
balmy; in the foothills,- sultry and calm ; out in the main valley, 
blazing hot, but tempered by a little wind, and in crossing the 
bav, and in San Francisco, damp and chilly. To sum up : if a 
man have $100, two weeks time, and a tough backbone, he can 
go to Yosemite and see moi'e of the wonderful than is contained 
in America besides. 

The cold weather was giving way and the warm season about 
setting in; for in " Fi'isco *' everything goes by the contrary ; 
the seasons are all mixed uj), and winter comes exactly in the 
middle of summer. August is the coldest, and September the 
warmest month of the year. The reason is obvious when we 
note the course of the Pacific trade winds. The easterly wind, 
which has been setting on the coast since May, iiegins to retire 
slowly southward in July, and by the middle of August the 



GO IN THE SPRING. 293 

heavy body of it is striking full on the city, bringing with it 
fog and chills, [)iercing the bones. By September 1st or 15th, the 
central column — so to sj)eak — of this wind has passed "Frisco," 
and Is setting in on San Diego and Mexico; and behind it comes 
what is called '" the suck," almost a calm, or even a wind blow- 
ing off the coast. But this lakes place while there is still hot 
sun enough to produce warm weather, and thus the chilly breeze 
retiring southward before the September sun is quite ready to 
tbljow, this and tiie next are the warmest months. 

The first six months of the year are the best time to visit 
California; everything is bright and growing, and from January 
to June there is comparatively little dust or heat. After that 
the drouth is parching, ai)d the whole interior, from the Sierras 
to the Coast Range, becomes yellow and arid. For days of travel 
not a green sj)ot is to be seen, for not one house in fifty has a 
grass plat about it, the same requiring a little irrigation and 
the use of a windmill. The old fields from which the wheat has 
been cut in May or early June look distressingly barren in their 
coat of dirty yellow; all the foothills are brown or dirty gray, 
and over everything is dust, dust, dust. Not a drop of rain falls 
from May till late October; then come the drenching rains of 
autumn, and the whole plain becomes a sea of liquid mud — a 
little too thick for navigation and a little too thin for roads. 
But this passes away in a month or two; the roads harden, and 
only moderate showers fall, and by the middle of January the 
growing season is fully begun. Then everything is lovely for 
a while. Strawberries are abundant in March, and every kind 
of early fruit and vegetable most ]>lentifid. But the heavy fruit 
season comes later; so, if you can not visit the State before July 
and avoid the dust, then come late in August or in September 
and enjoy the fresh fruits. Do not, as the majority of Eastern 
tourists do, come in July, get all the evils and miss the comforts. 

I like San Francisco for its variety. If one don't like staid 
American society, there are French, Italian, and Spanish quar- 
ters, and not far off Kanakas, and ever-present Chinese. Having 
a few nights to spend in sight-seeing, we give the first to the 
" Barbary Coast" and the second to the California Theatre, the 



201 



l'Ai>I FOKMA A M L'.~.KMI-:N'rs. 




THE MINER AVIIO " STRUCK IT RICH 



last just then the great attraction of the city in the way oi' 
amusements. California taste runs more towards the spectacular 
and splendid in scenery and properties than to the solid or 
classic drama, and tiiis theatre is noted for paying more money 
for scenery than any other in America. They had then upon 
the stage a play entitled " Ready ; or California in 1871," which 
was written with a view to illustrate the wonders of the State 
from Cape Horn to Yosemite. The various views were of 



SOCIETY. 295 

familiar places in San Francisco, of Cape Horn, the Central 
Pacific, the A'ernal Fall at Yosemite, and of a Chinese opium 
den, all painted M'ith exact fidelity to the originals. The scene 
representing Vernal Fall surpassed nature almost; the illusion 
of falling water being produced by a new invention, consisting 
of a cylinder with lights inside revolving behind the transparent 
curtain. The theatre was crowded from orchestra to third circle 
by representatives from every part of the globe, and a represen- 
tative California audience is only second in interest to such 
scenery. The play is nothing. The "villains" of the piece 
concert to throw the Central Pacific train off at Gape Horn, in 
order to rob Wells-Fargo's treasure boxes ; ihcy are defeated in 
the very act by the " virtuous hero," who clears the track of 
stone just in time for a splendid train of nine cars to go by, in 
exact semblance of the reality, filling the Californian's soul 
with delight and the theatre with cheers. The " model detec- 
tive," disguised as a Chinaman, feigns stupidity in the opium 
den, and overhears the villains plotting to rob tlie " pious old 
gentleman " of the play. The hero finally marries the heroine 
in the most magnificent church of the city, and they, set out on 
a tour to the Yosemite, where they come across the " villain," 
who has been crushed by a rock overturning upon him half way 
up the cliff to Vernal Falls. Policemen, tourists, Chinamen 
and diggers, in appropriate costumes, crowd the scenes. Every 
view of city or country is exact and natural, and visitors can 
get about as good an idea of California at large in four liours of 
this play as in a week's travel. Critics there claimed that this 
was the greatest local and sensational success ever produced in 
America. 

Society in "Frisco" seems to be in a transition state. It is 
a land of the beggar and the prince. There seems to be no 
middle class. Public taste inclines to the showy, sensational 
and flashy, rather than the quietly elegant. More "loud" dress- 
ing, gaudy jewelry, flaunting feathers, frills and furbelows, big 
bows, and loose-fiying, parti-colored ribbons can be seen on 
Montgomery and Kearney streets than on anv two fashionable 
promenades I have traversed. A " '49-er " tells me, as I have 




.9(i 



PUBLIC IJUiLUIXG.S. 297 

heai'cl before, that the female aristocracy of San Francisco con- 
sists largely of those who came out there twenty or twenty-five 
years ago, when women were scarce, as servant girls, waiters 
and the like, and married men who grew suddenly rich in the 
wonderful changes of those times. 

The extravagance of dress in " Frisco " has long been a sub- 
ject of remark; and it is probable that wealth and fashion out- 
run taste and cultivation in a community, which in twenty 
years rose like another Venice, from the salt-marsh and sand- 
hill to unmeasured opulence. The suddenly rich usually spend 
their money in the way that will make most display; and if 
we cannot altogether commend their taste, we are pleased to 
find with it in California a kindness of heart which has been 
equally lavish in hospitality and institutions of charity. 

A Protestant Orphan Asylum was erected in 1854, at a cost 
of $30,000, and has received many additions since. The Catholic 
Orphan Asylum, with school building annexed, cost $100,000, 
and contains three times as many children as the Protestant, 
the CJatholic being in a decided majority over any other sect. 
They have ten churches in the city. Next come the Methodists 
with nine, the Presbyterians with six, and two or three each of 
all others, including Jewish, Universalist, Unitarian and Chi- 
nese, if wo may dignify the two ''joss houses" of the latter by 
the name. 

The beauty of Sunday afternoon tempted us to use that day 
for a visit to the Cliff House, the great sea-side resort. It lies 
on the opposite, or western, side of the peninsula, about four 
miles from Montgomery Street. There are many wavs of reach- 
ing it, of which the ultra fashionable is to pay about three 
times as much for a hack as the same would cost in Cincinnati; 
but the po[)ular and democratic mode, adopted by us, is to take 
tiie street cars to Lone Mountain, whence a line of hacks runs 
carrying passengers at the moderate price of " six bits there 
and back," Lone Mountain, the city cemetery, stands beyond 
the limits of the city proper, Init various homestead associations 
have built up a line of villages all the way across the point. 
Whirling along through sandhills, on which I observed a plenti- 



298 THE sp:a-lions. 

fill supply of two old Utah acquaintances, sagebrush and grease- 
wood, a sudden turn to the left gave a free outlook towards 
the west; there I took my first vnew of the Pacific, and in a 
few minutes more was upon the seaward porch of the Cliff 
House. 

The day was calm and almost cloudless; the sight westward 
free even to the meeting of sea and sky; the blue vault, and 
the soft air of the Pacific, were over and around us ; to the right 
the Golden Gate opened into the bay; while below us and far 
down the coast the white surf was breaking upon the shore, 
Avith that sublime music which has been the delight and the 
despair of poets since the poluphloisboio of Homer. The 
house stands upon a projecting rock, some forty feet above the 
waves, which beat incessantly upon the jagged points below, 
and at times even dash their liglit spray into the faces of those 
upon the seaward porch. Ai^parently a hundred yards out, 
really three; times as far, stands the cluster of rocks which are 
the resort of the sea-lions. They were there in numbers, not 
playing in the waves as sometimes, but lying in groups upon 
the top of the rocks, "sunning themselves," one might say; 
their deep, hollow bark mingling with the roar of the surf 
A lone rock, a little farther out, is covered in the same way 
with gulls, visitors not being allowed to fire at either. 

Below the Cliff House a road, cut into the rock and walled 
on the side next the ocean, leads down to a sandy beach below, 
where the hills give back from the shore. A long salt marsh, 
easily forded, is shut off from the ocean by a sand "spit," on 
which is a firm and excellent drive, even to the edge of the 
surf Taken altogether, this may be called the Long Branch 
of the West. 

As the afternoon drew on, while we watched the gambols of 
the sea-lions, which had aroused to unusual activity, the air 
suddenly grew dim, the rocks appeared to recede, the view of 
the ocean was shut off, and a dense bank of fog came rolling in- 
land, while long lines of mist spread over the hills and went 
creeping through the hollows towards the city. By 4 P. i^r. the 
breeze was coming in strong from the ocean ; the air, which 




299 



300 DAILY CIEANGEvS. 

three hours before was quite warm, grew uncomfortably chilly, 
and the crowd turned towards town. Reaching Montgomery 
Street we found it dark with fog and mist, and a damp cold 
night set in where the morning had been so bright and warm. 

This sea-breeze, which comes every afternoon, bringing more 
or less fog, gives San Francisco what might be called a singular 
uniformity of variety. There is no change of temperature 
(luring the night, or if any, it turns warmer. Of the eight 
tiays I spent there, in October, 1859, three were somewhat rainy, 
the rest beautifully clear and mild. It was warmer then than 
I foiuid it in August; but between Jannary and June there is 
no perceptible difference. 

A day's ramble about San Francisco in August I find to be 
a miniature copy of the seasons, exGe[)t that no snow falls to re- 
})resent the hard winter of the East. We rise at 7 A. M. to a 
balmy early spring morning; if very hardy, even a visitor can 
go without a summer overcoat, but to stand around the streets 
I find it more pleasant to wear mine. The rising sun scatters 
the light, fleecy clouds, and shines out with some fervor, and 
bv 10 A. M. I take off my overcoat, for a mild summer has set 
in. This continues with beautiful steadiness till 2 or 3 P. Jr. ; 
then the thermometer falls about five degrees very suddenly, 
as the afternoon fog comes rolling over the city. November 
continues from 4 till 7 p. m., at which time regular winter sets 
in. It is, in reality, only eight or ten degrees colder than it 
was at noon, but the change makes it seem to me like December. 
I button tight my overcoat, slap my fingers vigorously, and 
exercise till I get acclimated ; then take a hearty dinner, and 
two cups of hot coffee, put on my muffler, and go out for an 
evening to look at the " Barbary Coast." 

This consists of some twenty squares along Dii[)ont and ad- 
joining streets, from Stockton to Post and Sacramento, inhabited 
exclusively by low foreigners, petty thieves, Chinese and pros- 
titr.tes. Our party of three, accomjxinied by a friend on the 
S|)ecial police, go first, of course, to the Chinese Theatre. A 
lonu;, low room, all the walls garnished, or rather daubed, with 
gorgeous Chinese scenes, all without jierspective, and lighted 




r':^ ^^ 4 



Mn 



302 THE "celestial" drama. 

by a variety of colored lanterns — the whole crowded with Celes- 
tials, and noisome with the smoky fumes of some weed I can't 
recognize, is not particularly inviting. Yet here we sit an hour, 
mostly studying the audience, but occasionally turning an eye 
on the monotonous [)lay. From the lively pantomime and the 
explanations of our guide, I make out that it represents some 
marvelous incidents in the career of Rip Sah, or some other old 
humbug, whose name and monarchy were great in China about 
sixty thousand years since. I may not have the date quite cor- 
rect, as Celestial history consists of the annals of a series of 
dynasties, evolving civilization and philosophy through suc- 
cessive eras of such magnitude that a variation of twenty thou- 
sand years, more or less, is regarded as a trifling discrepancy. 
The musicians sit upon the stage directly behind the actors, who 
enter and retire always by the wings ; and the dying groans of 
liip Sail, who expires in a fit just after having triumphed over, 
all his enemies and beheaded fifty thousand prisoners, are 
drowned by the monotonous droning of something like a tin 
drum and two three-stringed instruments, about as musical as a 
hog with his nose under a gate, but not half as expressive. A 
placard on the wall is rendered by our interpreter, as an assurance 
to the Celestial public that this magnificent play is produced lanv 
exactly as it was two thousand years ago in Pekin. 

In the back of the stage is a number of pegs, on which hang- 
swords, masks, enormous wigs, robes, baskets and a variety of 
household articles. When the actor has had his say in front, he 
walks quietly to the rear of the stage, takes off' his "fixings" 
and hangs them up till his time comes to "go on " again. It 
is needless to add that the illusion is somewhat marred by 
this proceeding. There were no women on the stage, and 
I am told that none ever appear there. Half a dozen or so 
were in the audience, huddled together in the most obscure 
corner. 

We find the Chinese quarter settled so thickly that it seems 
scarcely possible human beings could exist so, and cannot 
repress a feeling of fear as we plunge into the dark alleys lined 
bv little cubby-holes alive with yellow women. But our guMo 




303 



304 THE " DANGEROUS CLASSES." 

assures us we are always safe here; " thougli," he adds, "I 
can't give you any such promise two squares from here among 
the whites." 

Nevertheless, we went and inspected the white quarter. 
Such things have been described too often ; and if one has 
read a deseiption of the "hard quarter" of one city, lie 
knows enough about all. For there is a singular monotony 
about misery and sin everywhere, and the "poor devil" oC 
iSan Francisco does not differ niateriaily from the same indi- 
vidi;al in New York. Poverty is a misfortune anywhere; in a 
great city it is very near a crime. And with the really vicious 
who crowd the haunts of the " Barbary Coast," are many whose 
only fault is i)Overty. For a brief glance at the better-class 
dance-house, the low-class "den," and the "flash theatre," I 
can only refer the reader to the illustrations. 

But far above the denizens of the " Barbary Coast," there is 
still a large class who live by pandering to vicious tastes, and a 
much larger class whose only amusements are of the "flash" 
and "display" order. The wants of all these are met by 
half a dozen " melodeons," the most brilliant of which is the 
"Bella Union," where it may be said, ballet girls it^dress most 
extravagantly of any place in America, and where the worship 
of the calf — padded, not golden — prevails to such an extent 
that Moses would have fairly pulverized the stone tables, had 
he witnessed it. 

The upper part of San Francisco is full of geographical sur- 
prises, as the plat is the result of an awkward attempt to build, 
upon a collection of knolls, hills and miniature mountains, a city 
on the exact plan of level Philadelphia, resulting, as we might 
expect, in laborious and irregular attempts at uniformity. The 
city is built upon the northern end of a peninsula twenty-five 
miles long, between the bay and ocean; city and county consti- 
tute but one municipality. The j)oint of the peninsula is about 
four miles wide, formed of a series of sandy hills, with inter- 
vening valleys and slopes; upon these, or rather upon the 
inner eastern side, is the city. For several squares from the 
bay the plat is quite level, tolerably so in the valleys; but the 




30;") 



306 SHAKY REAL ESTATE. 

place grew so mucli faster tlmn was expected that it has every- 
where " bulged in" to the hills in a rather awkward manner. 
The city now occupies an area about double that of fifteen 
years ago; nearly all of the level tract is devoted to business, 
and many of the highest hills are appropriated for palatial 
mansions. But many dwellings, which in front are level with 
one street, have a back yard terminating in a sheer descent of 
fifty feet or more ; and proceeding along a level street one is 
surprised, on looking across an open square, to see a palatial 
mansion away upon a side hill, or stuck upon a rock, with 
galleries winding along the almost perpendicular sides. 

With this uneven surface and rather sandy soil, splendid 
facilities exist for keeping the city clean, and it is noticeably so, 
except in a few places near the bay. Another compensation 
. for the hills is the fact that they, with the attempts of engineers, 
have caused a strangely picturesque and interesting city. Of 
San Francisco it may certaiidy be said that it has a character 
and development peculiarly its own ; it is no pale copy of 
New York or Chicago, as the latter is of the former, but sui 
generis, to be loved and studied for its own municipal individu- 
ality, in which it probably excels any other city in America. 

The first San Francisco was built almost entirely of wood, 
and vanished one day in a sweeping fire. The second was 
built largely of wood, or in a rather fragile manner with more 
solid materials; the frequent fires finally cured the first fault, 
and the earthquakes frightened them out of the second. Seis- 
mology — the new science — ought to have many enthusiastic 
students in San Francisco, for if any man can discover how the 
earthquakes may be accurately foretold, his fortune is made. 
Ordinary shocks which would be historic in the East, are but 
the talk of an hour there; and in one year there were eleven 
shakes. The "Earth-sustaining Ennosigaios," of whom Homer 
tells us, must certainly stand uneasily under " Frisco." Many 
int'-enious plans have been suggested to avoid the dangers 
tlierefrom, and tall houses are now constructed with a com- 
plex set of "stringers" through them. 

Only eight miles away, just across the bay, the beautiful 



GOAT ISLAND. 



307 




TlIK KIltST SAX FKAXCISC'O DE8TK(JYE1>. 



little City of Oakland rarely has even a shiver ; and from its 
location many think it ought to have been the great city. It is 
now the Brooklyn to the commercial emporium. But between 
the two, a little northward, lies Goat Island, long the point of 
dread to the San Franciscans. The Central Pacific Company 
were moving Congress to grant them the Island for a terminus 
to their road ; and it was believed in San Francisco that their 
intention was to connect it with the main land, transfer all 
their business to that side, and thus build up a great rival. 
This was the one subject on which few San Franciscans could 
talk coolly, and their public meetings upon the matter were 
anything but models of decorum. 

Oratory and literature on the Pacific coast tend decidedly to 
the florid ; and this feature is most developed in San Francisco. 




308 



CALIFORNIA LITERATURE. 309 

Foreign critics have maintained that certain characteristics be- 
long distinctively to American hnmor, such as broad exaggeration 
and recklessness; and these features, with an excess of coloring, 
appear peculiarly in California literature. In the last developed 
poet, Joaquin Miller, these features are most marked. On the 
Coast, his " Kit Carson's Ride," is most criticised, and his 
"Isles of the Amazons," most praised. But I have never been 
able — from want of poetical taste, perhaps — to admire his poetry 
as do the critics of the Const. To me it appears — and the criti- 
cism applies to most Pacific Coast poetry — to partake somehow 
of the soft, sensuous and deceiving nature of the climate: all rich 
description, florid language, without point, moral, or conclusion ; 
sweet, intoxicating, and confusing, but not strengthening. A com- 
pleted poem may well be compared with one of the old Spanish 
gardens of California — a bewildering maze of colors, lily white, 
or staring red and yellow, intermingled without plan or order, 
and yielding neither fruit nor odor. But authorities differ: 
one enthusiastic Pacific Coast journal likens Miller, in his 
gorgeous word-painting, to Byron ; to which a disgusted cotem- 
porary replies, that " he resembles Byron as a little nigger does 
a black night." 

California, particularly San Francisco, had a few celebrated 
women at the time of our visit. Frances Rose Mackinley 
(Mrs. or Miss, I don't know — probably not important), had 
shocked the moral and astotiished the others, by reaffirming the 
doctrines of Vickie Bloodhull, with a fine Pacific Coast flavor — 
a sort of rich and sensuous description, which almost made them 
entertaining by removing part of their original grossness. Her 
book was to be found, occasionally, away dow^n at the bottom 
of young men's trunks, to be slipped from hand to hand among 
the " fast," and read by stealth ; and even a few of the venerable 
patres conscripti' he\A up one hand in horror at her disorganiz- 
ing doctrines, while the other went down into the breeches 
pocket for a dollar wherewith to buy the volume. 

But as soon as the sensation of novelty was past, Rose sank 
to her appropriate place. The moral world, wdiether of New 
York or San Francisco, need have no fears of such disorganizers. 
They serve, rather, as does the convenient drunkard to the 




310 



. EXCITING LIFE. 311 

itinerant temperance lecturer, as a frightful example. When 
luiiuan nature has so changed that a man will toil as hard to 
sn{)port another man's children as his own ; when he is totally 
indifferent whether his wife's little flock are all his own, or claim 
different fathers; when a young man takes a brevet-wife for a 
life-companion as willingly as a maiden ; and, above all, when 
nnchanging nature herself ceases to stamp upon the face of vir- 
gin innocence that indescribable charm which all men recognize 
and honor, but none can portray — then we may expect " free 
love " to become the social condition. Until then, personal 
purity in woman will be as much sought for by man as it is 
commanded by Heaven and approved by the teaching of nature. 

San Francisco has a fair proportion of the moral and in- 
telligent, though, of course, the traces of the moral storm and 
wrecks of her early years are still to be seen. The future Cali- 
foniians will probably be the most inventive race in the world ; 
for only the most resolute settled the country at first, only the 
most skilful succeeded, and their situation was such as to make 
invention and contrivance a necessity. Still more will this re- 
sult from a mixture of races; that state of facts which has made 
the American what he is, exists tenfold more in California. But 
there is too much intensity in social life yet, and too much fluc- 
tuation in business. The tendency to suicide and insanity on 
the Pacific Coast was for many years amazing. Life is too ex- 
citing; there are too many revulsions. One must do business 
on too large a scale; make much or lose much. The unsettled 
state of society, also, in early years broke up many families and 
caused much domestic unhappiness. Broken down men either 
fought the battle against fate with a desperate recklessness, till 
body and brain were alike crazed, or yielded to misfortune and 
sank dejected, became morbid and lost self-respect. 

Of the foreign elements introduced into San Francisco, ten 
times my space would be required to treat [)roperly. During 
my first visit, the anti-Chinese excitement was at its bight; at 
my second, it had sensibly moderated, and at my last I scarcely 
heard them alluded to. For a time they ceased to be a " prob- 
lem." However, on second thoughts, "John Chinaman" is 
entitled to a chapter by himself. 



a 

in 
O 

> 




312 




CHAPTER XVII. 

"JOHN. " 

Popular nonsense about the Chinese — The bugbear Chinamaa — The romantic 
Chinaman — The real article. — Ilia history, art, music and drama — Objections 
to them considered — Do they cheapen labor? — Will they overrun the 
country? — Do they degrade labor? — Their condition — Missionary work— ^ 
Sacramento system — Rev. O. Gibson — Better specimens — Yellow Chinese — 
Mrs. Laisun and daughters — Chinese students — Hope for the race. 



O come at once to the point, I feel no anxiety about 
"John Chinaman," either as a political problem, a dis- 
turbing social power, or a source of injury to the 
laboring classes. The talk about his doing this, that 
and the other terrible thing on the Pacific coast is three- 
fourths of it political deniagoguery, and half of the other 
fourth, pure nonsense. Nor, on the other hand, can I find in 
hira that remarkable virtue and sterling honesty, or that indus- 
try and ingenuity with which his apologists have credited him. 
Such ideas are but the natural reaction of a generous mind, 
enthusiastic to defend an oppressed race against a cowardly and 
brutal class, who maltreat them for some fancied injury. 

" No California gentleman or lady ever abuses a Chinaman." 
"Twain" never spoke a truer word. But there is in California, 
as elsewhere, a considerable class, many of whom have them- 
selves but lately sought an asylum in America, whose worst 
instincts are excited against a race differing so widely from them- 
selves ; and demagogues stoop to pander to this feeling. Hence 
a world of declamation about the horrors of Chinese invasion. 
Honorable mention should be made of a few exceptions. Hon. 
Geo. C. Gorham was not afraid to raise his voice publicly in 
defense of the oppressed, though by so doing he lost the support 

313 



314 HALF-CIVILIZATION. 

of the masses, and was remanded to private life by an over- 
wlielming majority. Our wild man G. F. Train, also did a 
good thing in his public utterances in San Francisco; and I 
often heard the remark there, that he had said what no otlier 
man in America could have said and lived. 

Still the abuse of Clunamen continues, though more and 
more rarely. Then come the apologists and claim for "John" 
a score of virtues which he does not j)ossess. He is, they say, 
the cleanest, most temperate, faithful, and honest of all domestic 
servants. All this, as it is in defense of the oppressed, is very 
noble, very generous, almost j)raiseworthy. It has but one fault: 
it is not true. 

"John" is simply a half civilized heathen, with an odd 
mixture of tolerably good and very bad qualities, and in a fear- 
ful minority, which alone would prevent his being of one-tenth 
the consequence attributed to him. *'Joiin"has a civilization 
which is, sui generis, perfect as far as it goes. But a little 
examination shows there is a singular and radical defect in 
everything he does : he is an admirable painter, but knows noth- 
ing of perspective ; he draws rapidly from a copy, but can rarely 
design ; he imitates like a monkey, but cannot invent; he has a 
wonderful memory for details, and follows the bad copy just as 
faithfully as the good. His music is perfect as to time, but has 
no element of melody ; while the third division, dynamics, 
makes the only variety. 

His acting is faultless as to plot, incident and action ; but it is 
acting only by which he conveys the impression of feeling. 
The voice, that wonderful instrument by which every shade of 
emotion may be wafted from the speaker's mind to the hearer's 
soul, is utterly without variation : the dying groans of the 
expiring hero, the battle cry of the bold and bloody Rip Sah, 
the love songs of Kam Pou, and the passionate breathings of 
his mistress are all delivered in one screaming falsetto. The 
stranger who drops into their theatre on Jackson Street for one 
evening, does not fully observe this, as he knows nothing of the 
idea expressed ; but let him attend often enough to catch the 
sense from the ))antomime, or better, take a native to explain the 



316 SAMENESS OF DEVELOPMENT. 

progress of the play, and he will see that the want of harmony 
between sound and sentiment, when not shocking, is too ludi- 
crous for description. If "John" has any conception whatever 
of melody, as distinct from mere racket, I can find no evidences 
of it. 

. The same one-thing-lacking appears in all branches of their 
culture. Their literature is but repetitions and combinations of 
that of their ancestors ; their history all reads alike, as if each 
century had taken pains to repeat all the doings of the century 
preceding ; and their fine arts present an endless array of 
dragons, griffins, Boodhs, flying monsters, and spike-tailed 
devils with pagoda-shaped hats. To suggest tiiat the poets or 
orators of to-day have improved upon those of two thousand 
years ago, would be an insult to a Chinese scholar. To say that 
they are inferior would scarcely be less an insult; but might l)e 
forgiven as a delicate compliment to the ancestors whom the 
Chinese worship. 

Of course there was a time when the Chinese mind was 
inventive ; but it was many centuries since. About two thousand 
years ago the race, which had progressed for twelve-hundred years, 
probably reached the climax of their cranial capacity and stopped. 
Since then they have stood still or, some think, have begun to 
retrograde. Tiiey number perhaps 100,000 on the Pacific 
coast. What then are the objections to them ? 

1. They work cheap, and so throw white men out of emplo-yment. 

In the first place, it is evident at a glance that less than one- 
fifth of them come into competition with white labor. The rest 
are doing work which white men would not do at all. In the 
swamp and tide-water lands, in working old placers abandoned 
by white miners, in silk culture, and in cheap laundries, are 
found one-half of the Chinese — where white men would not 
take the labor. Of the other half, many are house and hotel 
servants, and others work in gangs on the railroads; while a 
very few are manufiicturers. 

But do they, work cheap? Only in a local sense. It is cheap 
in California, but would not be in the East. When the gang 
was brought to North Adams, Massachusetts, two or three 



'CHEAP LABOR. 



317 




CHINESE 3IERCHANT OX POST STREET. 



years ago, we heard much of the dreaded invasion; but I 
have not observed that the experiment has been repeated. 
Thirty-five dollars per month is not cheap in the East, though 
it is in California; and few Chinese will work for less. Besides, 
as soon as they learn the ways of the country and a little of the 
language, there is not the least doubt but they will ask all their 
labor is worth, and a little more. There are two sides to this 
discussion of cheap labor. There is also cheap production. 
There is a buying as well as a selling side. If a host of Chinese 
should come and make our shoes at half the price now charged, 
twenty thousand people would be thrown out of employment. 
But forty million people would be able to buy shoes a great 
deal cheaper. In rice culture, in the tule, swamp and tide lands, 



318 



A CHINESE INVASION. 



where white men will not work; in silk culture and in working 
"poor placers," California needs and can employ a quarter of a 
million Chinamen without displacing a single white. And 
the results would double the wealth of the State, lessen taxation 
one half, increase the demand for skilled white laborers, and 
make profitable places for five times as many as are now sitting 
about the cities complaining of dull times, and cursing the 
"haythen Chinee." 

The argument on this " cheap-labor question " has a comic 
resemblance to that of the Yankee who was sued for the value 
of a kettle, borrowed and broken. His answer in court had 
three counts: first, he never had the kettle; second, it was 
broken when he got it ; third, it was whole when he returned 
it. Similarly, but with more truth, of the Chinese: first, more 
cheap labor will not hurt California; and, second, the Chinese 
will not cheapen labor to any appreciable extent. 

2. But they will overrun the country ! 

They have been coming for a quarter of a century and only 
number a hundred thousand. At this rate they would, at the 
end of a thousand years, be in as great a minority as now ; for 
we get twice or thrice their whole number from Europe every 
year. Of course, their immigration is liable to increase. But 
if all the emigrant ships running to all the ports in the Union 
should go into the Chinese-carrying trade, they could only bring 
over a quarter of a million a year. It would take them a hun- 
dred and sixty years to reach our present numbers, even if we 
stood still. Can we not Americanize and Christianize as fast 
as they can immigrate? In the light of plain figures, "the 
oncoming millions of Asia," with which California orators 
threaten us, appear rather as a violent figure of speech than an 
imminent fact. 

3. Tliey will degrade labor ! 

If there is anything I particularly enjoy, it is to hear a lily- 
handed office-seeker discourse on the " dignity of labor." I have 
been reading the Bible somewhat of late, and learn therefrom 
that labor, like death, was put upon man as a curse instead of a 
blessing ; and I observe that his natural instinct leads him to 



"DEGKADING LAROR." 319 

put off the one as long, and have as little to do with the other, 
as possible. Also, that those men who go around as the 
" workingman's friends," getting up " Labor-reibrni Associa- 
tions " and talking so eloquently about the "dignity of labor," 
are the ones who have managed to do the least of ilr. Hence, 
in California, I was not at all surprised to see that all the anti- 
Chinese orators regularly employed a house full of Chinese ser- 
vants. Enquiring of one such why tiiis was so, he frankly re- 
plied, " We can't help ourselves ; other servants ask wages we 
can't afford to pay, and arc offensive and uncertain besides." 
A very good excuse ; but did our forefathers and foremothers 
so coni{)roaiise with their principles when they refused British 
tea ? If these fellows were in earnest, they would heave the 
Chinese servants overboard, as those others did the tea, and do 
their own work. Why are our speakers poloquent, and our 
newspapers full of glowing paragraphs, about the " dignity of 
labor?" Is it because there is, after all, a sort of doubt in the 
minds of thousands about it ? Of course, labor is dignified and 
honorable ; but why not take it for granted, in a country like 
this, and cease to make such a rumpus about it? We shout 
and hurrah over the simple proposition so much, that we make 
the secret doubt apparent. The Chinese will " degrade labor " 
just so far as the laborer, by his own acts, consents that it shall 
be degraded, and no farther. 

The social condition of the California, particularly the San 
Francisco, Ciiinese is unqualifiedly bad. They are herded to- 
gether in narrow streets and alleys, in crowded tenement houses, 
living almost like brutes, and, in a Christian country, with the 
morals of heathen. Of course, this presents no just standard 
by which to judge of their condition at home. That they want 
to do much better is clearly proved by the fact that as fast as 
they are able they do improve, live cleanly and comfortably, and 
with a tolerable degree of morality. A Post Street merchant 
IS not an unpleasant gentleman to associate with, by any means; 
and the style of his apartment and dress shows considerable taste. 
Chan Laisun, reported to be worth a million or so, does not 
look particularly handsome at his best, the more so as he insists 



320 



CHAN LAISUN. 




CHAN LAISUN. 



on sitting for his portrait in his wash-basin hat and puffed 
sleeves ; but he is a thoroughly honest dealer for all that, and 
if he promises you so much tea, sampan or pach-tong, on a given 
day, you are just as sure of it as if you had a written contract. 
Such specimens show that the national mind really seeks for 
something better than is to be seen on Dupont Street. 

We cannot afford to let the race go altogether uncared for 
morally; and Christian ideas have taken a good practical direc- 
tion in the matter. The mission work is already wonderful in 
its practical results, considering the small force, and sublime in 
its possibilities. The first effort at teaching was by three ladies 
of the Sixth Street Methodist Church, Sacramento: Mrs. Carly* 
Mrs. Heacock and Mrs. Sweetland — names which deserve a 
place in history. They established the first Chinese school in 
July, 1866, and others were following when, in August, 1868, 
Rev. O. Gibson was sent to that special work by the Methodist- 



EDUCATING "JOHN." 321 

Episcopal Mission Board. This gentleman had spent ten years 
in China as a missionary, and finding the Sacramento schools 
flourishing and the system good, adopted it entire and made it 
general. There were, in 1870, seven schools in San Francisco, 
one in Oakland, one in Santa Clara, one in San Jose, one in 
Stockton, two in Sacramento, the original one with forty scholars, 
one in Marysvale, one in Grass Valley and three in Oregon, at 
Salem and Portland. The largest had a hundred and fifty 
scholars on the list, and two others a hundred each ; the average 
of the others about thirty. In all, a thousand Chinese were 
under instruction, with an average regular attendance of five 
hundred. The number has no doubt largely increased since my 
estimate was made. 

They learn English letters and spelling rapidly, but cannot 
pronounce the r or the th. By invitation of Rev. O. Gibson I 
attended the Teachers' Meeting called to discuss two points: 
How best to teach English ; and. How far to teach Christianity 
at the start. It was concluded to first teach our language, social 
practices and customs ; then, religion specifically. 

Chinese religion is a strange study : a qneer, cold, nninviting, 
chilly and repellant theology. In conversations with the mis- 
sionary, interjjeters, and two Chinese merchants of my acquaint- 
ance, I was convinced that the race would give it up, if a more 
vital and cheerful belief were oifcred in its stead. 

Boodhism is the religion of profound sorrow — of deep, deep, 
hopeless, and unutterable gloom. There is no Mediator, no atone- 
ment, no forgiveness, no redeeming love : all is to be suffered out, 
labored out, struggled over, agonized through ; and fallen man, if 
forgiven at last, is only forgiven in complete negation. Heaven 
is not a positive state; only an escape from hell : it is not happi- 
ness, but merely the negation of misery. In its genius is nothing 
Itright or joyous; nothing inspiring in its theology. It is, 
simply, sin leads to suifering, to be atoned for by ages of misery. 
Its j)ublic ceremonies have their funny side, too ; but only to the 
onlooking Fanqui ("White Devil," or "Scoffer"). Whether 
"John" be a skeptic or believer, the ceremony awakens no 
mirth in his mind. 
21 




A-odi:'.. AgedlC. 

MRS. LAISUN AND DAUGHTERS. 



322 



BOODHISM. 323 

There are really three forms of opinion in China, but they can 
hardly be denominated so many religions: Confucianism, 
Boodhism, and Taouism. The first is rather a system of philo- 
sophy, a sort of addendum to their religion, as nearly all China- 
men believe to some extent in Confucius. It treats of the "Five 
Relations" and duties dependent thereon : 1st, Rulers and Ruled, 
2d, Parent and Child, 3d, Husband and Wife, 4th, Brothers, 
and 5th, Friends. The instructions are very minute, even 
telling one how to walk when visiting a friend. Some adopt 
Confucianism so far as to practically disbelieve the rest ; in short, 
become infidels. Some of these in California are quite well 
acquainted with the New Testament, and consider its principles 
quite good in themselves ; but as drawing the line too close, and 
quite too high and sublime for mortals. But they have no idea 
of the Atonement; it seems nearly impossible for even the most 
intelligent to form any conception of it. "Dead Works "are the 
only foundation they build upon : even if a, man should, from 
to-day henceforth, do exactly right, he must be put through one 
or more of the chambers of hell to pay him for what he has 
already done. Boodhism, their religion proper, is a system of 
idolatry introduced from India many centuries ago. It deifies 
the remarkable dead. Its grand idea is, to attain to a state of 
perfect repose — soul and body utterly without emotion — this is 
perfect bliss and highest good. From their description, it would 
be to us perfect nonentity. Hence the general statement that 
"xlnnihilation is the Boodhist Heaven;" still that does not seem 
to be their precise idea. It is still perfect consciousness, but 
without any of the ideas or emotions which, in this state, result 
from consciousness. Faithful devotees are to become Boodhs, 
though the original Boodh was the Creator. Men are to 
become inferior Boodhs by absorbing the spirit of Boodh. One; 
year of his equals twenty-five million common years. In tiiis 
they beat the Mormons, who only make "one year of the Lord " 
equal to a thousand common years. 

Taouism (Tah-oo-ism) is a system of spiritual philosophy, 
filling all creation with an infinity of spirits. Just above the 
heads of mortals is the region of the gods. This sect have per- 



324 



SPIRITUALISM. 




CHINESE STUDENTS— KOW AT SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 

formed all the wonders of modern Spiritualism for five hundred 
years ; and probably to as little purpose. Its founder's name 
was Low Chee, literally translated, " old boy ; " and according to 
the tradition he was eighty years old the day he was born. The 
last seen of him he was flying away westward on a blue cow. 
Whether another " old boy " of whom we have heard was 
the founder of our Spiritualism, I leave believers to determine; 
but I have my suspicions. 

All three, in forms and ceremonies, mingle till it is difficult 
to distinguish. So grand a system of theology, with all its ad- 
juncts and minor points of faith, fixed as tending to a certain 
end and able to impress a whole people, seems to have required 
in its origin as much intense thought and creative power of 
imagination as our own system. 

The greatest difficulty of the Chinese question may be briefly 
stated : families do not immigrate. Few women come, and nearly 
nil of these few for the vilest purposes. Girls of only twelve 
or thirteen years are brought over, sometimes kidnapped, no 
doubt, and " thrown upon the town ; " such may be seen in every 
alley in Chinatown, frequently accosting the passing white man 
in words m hich it is a shame even to hear. I am reliably in- 
formed that there are not in America five hundred reputable 



CHINESE SCHOLARS. 



325 



women of the race. Of the pure or yellow Chinese, there are 
but few men, and only a dozen women. Mrs. Laisun and her 
daughters are specimens of the best class of Chinese ladies. 

Already there is quite a class of Chinese and half-blood chil- 
dren native to the Pacific Coast, who speak English fluently 
and look decidedly American. Many are being well educated, 
and there are more Chinese now in our schools than is generally 
imagined. Ah Wing graduated from Yale eight years ago with 
high honors, and the lads now in school at Springfield, Mass., 
are evidently of superior talents. Perhaps there is more hope 
for " John " than appeared in the setting out. These few strag- 
glers from the four hundred millions of China did not come 
here by the wish of their own Government; still less at the 
desire of either our Government or people. Why then did they 
come ? 

Is it not reasonable to suppose that a Higher Power is bring- 
ing a few millions of that people here to learn our civilization 
and religion, and carry Christianity and its attendant blessings 
to their own country ? If so, how have we, the superior and 
Christian race, fulfilled our part of the scheme? 







A HIGH CASTE MAJSTDARIN. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

MINES AND MINING. 

A prospect — Outline of mining region — The Cottonwoods — How I came there — 
Mormon auti-miniag sermons — The dry summer — Unliealthfulaess of Salt Lake 
City — I goto the mountains — " Prosjjectors " — We hunt a mine — -Mode of 
silver mining — Different in gold mining — One chance in twenty-five thousand 
for an " Emma " or " Comstock "— " Struelv a horse " — Over to Big Cotton- 
wood — Fire in the mountains— Promise of war in Utah — False alarm — Off for 
Bingham — Chicago fire — Thence to East Canon — I invest — And come out 
minus. 

Pkospect Camp, "\Yasatch Mountains, U. T., 

September 25, 1871. 

AM sitting at the door of a frame and canvas cabin, ten 
feet by twelve ; as near as I can determine, a thousand 
feet below the highest point in the Wasatch Range, seven 
thousand above Salt Lake, and eleven thousand higher 
than the level of the sea. We have thawed a little ice from 
our water buckets this morning, and taken a hot breakfast ; my 
companions are oflF down the mountain side, picking at "indica- 
tions," and mapping out the " run of the country rock," and at 
10 A. M. I find my fingers warm and pliant enough for the 
pencil. A party of prospectors from Uintah, M'orking their 
toilsome way tlirough the mountains to Camp Floyd, have just 
halted to drink and gossip. The men look haggard, and ragged 
with toil and exposure, while the horses' breath steams up, as 
in an eastern winter, and their manes and tails still show traces 
of the frost of last night. Four rivers head within five miles of 
me. To the south the rugged cliffs fall off abruptly to a deep 
cafion, from which the Timpanogos or Provo flows out to Utah 
Lake ; a little farther west is the American Fork, and far down 
the valley a faint green and blue haze marks the location of 
Provo City ; beyond it a faint cloudy whiteness proves to be 
326 



HEAD OF FIVE RIVERS. 



Utah Lake; while the ^yest Mountains (Oquirrh) are yet hidtU n 
in tiie morning haze. The cliff behind me shuts off the vie\v 
down tiie other rivers. 

If the reader will take a map of Utah, and from the Colorado 
follow up its main western affluent, the Uintah, he will find it 
heading in a range of peaks very near the center of this Terri- 
tory. Then begin two hundred miles west, on the Jordan, and 
follow up its main affluents, Mill Creek and the Cottonwoods ; 
they will be found to head in the same ])eaks. Go off from the 
latter a hundred miles north to the Weber, and trace its head 
to the same range. 
Then a hundred 
miles southwest to 
Utah Lake, and 
thence following up 
American and Tim- 
panogos Rivers, you 
w ill fi n d their 
sources very near 
the others, and just 
below where I am 
s i 1 1 i n g. In and 
around these peaks, 
on the west side 
particularly, will be 
found the oldest and 
best developed sil- 
ver mines of Utah. 

The season is at 
best but five months long; snow lies upon the flats till June 
and falls in September. The outlook is upon horrid peaks and 
gloomy defiles, while the slopes above the timber line are envel- 
oped half the time in chilling damps, and the other half swept 
by furious winds. Farther down, groves of timber produce a 
climate which, to one going from here, seems almost elysian, 
and are dotted thickly with the cabins of miners, who do endure 
the location somehow, and work their claims three-fourths of the 




AT "brown and SLOPEU'S." 



328 MINING AND PROPHECY. 

year. Take it at the best, it is a hard, hard life. But there is 
silver here — no longer any doubt on that point — and a commu- 
nity of active and enduring Gentiles is springing into life upon 
the very tops of these cold and forbidding mountains. 

But how did I get here ? 

Behind waits a brief narration, for I have followed the advice 
of Horace to epic poets, to plunge in media s res — freely trans- 
lated, " into the middle of things." 

After a lengthy stay in California, and journeyings not set 
down in this chronicle, I returned to Salt Lake City to find all my 
friends wild on silver mines. Everybody was talking about " feet/' 
"prospects,^' "indications," "specimens," "assays "and "divi- 
dends;" and I soon caught the same disease. There were two or 
three thousand Gentiles in the city speculating in mines and 
minei'S) five thousand more in the mountains hunting for mines, 
and perhaps two thousand actually working mines. All was con- 
fined to the Gentiles as yet, and by that beautiful spirit of 
contradiction which prevails in Utah, the priesthood were ser- 
monizing against mines and anathematizing everybody who took 
stock in them. Three months after they were investing heavily. 
Now they claim that "the Lord" revealed the existence of these 
mines to Brigham, but told him they must not be worked till 
" in His own good time He uncdvered them." Capital after- 
thought. 

Mormonism is the handiest religion in the world — for an 
argument. If "the brethren" prosper, it is the blessing of the 
Lord on the faithful ; if they fail and suffer, " The judgments of 
the Lord begin at the house of the Lord." If an "apostate" 
suffers, it is at once pronounced "a judgment ;" if he prosper, 
"the devil takes care of his own." It is a sure thing either 
way — " heads, I win ; tails, you lose." The Mormons now 
propose to become a mining people. 

It was the notable "dry season of 1871," and Salt Lake City 
soon grew intolerable to me. The atmosphere was very un- 
healthy. Fifty-five persons had died in three weeks, in a 
population of fourteen thousand. Two-thirds of the people 
Avere complaining of something. 



EOUTE TO THE MINES. 329 

I had come from California in the best of health, and in one 
week was prostrated with nervousness and indigestion. Such a 
season had not been known in Salt Lake since tiie notable 
" famine year." In view of these facts, I took stage for the hills. 

The evening before the clouds were lowering darkly over the 
Wasatch, and I waked to see her peaks glistening with the 
first snow of the season. But delay would not mend the 
matter; I was soon seated in a "jerky," and in three hours 
reached the mouth of Little Cottonwood Cafion, sixteen miles 
southeast of the city. The " Equinoctial storm" (liable, by the 
way, to occur some time between July and November,) had fully 
set in, and seemed to move towards the mountain at an even 
pace with the coach. In these enclosed basins clouds rise from 
the lakes and marshes and float away, without shedding their 
moisture, to the mountains ; there they are checked and fall in 
rain, causing the mountain sides to be covered with dense 
timber, while the valleys are always bare. 

The ten-mile route of rocky uphill to Central City, center of 
the mining region, is toilsome and appears dangerous. A damp, 
numbing wind swept down the canon, growing colder every 
mile, till overcoats and gloves failed to secure warmth ; while 
above and around us everywhere the peaks glistened with snow, 
seeming by imagination to add to the cold, and by the middle 
of the afternoon we saw the trees on the slopes gray white with 
rime, and knew that we had invaded the domain of winter. 

All was not peace in Central City. The night of my arrival 
was signalized by a general free fight, in which some twenty 
shots were fired, one of which struck in an upper room of our 
hotel. The impression goes out that miners are a quarrelsome 
set. Exactly the reverse is the fact; they are exceptionally quiet 
and peaceful. But they are careless and free with money ; their 
mode of life engenders a love of gaming, and following close 
upon them, about all mining towns, is a "float" of gamblers, 
strikers, demi-reps and dancing girls. A camp is always con- 
sidered prosperous where they are plenty, and Central had a 
surplus. I took a two days' rest there to get accustomed to the 
mountain air ; then took a mule ride to the foot of the cliff, 



330 



PKOSPECT. 




LITTLE PLEASANTRIES OF A MINING CAMP. 



which is beyond the reach of any vehicle. Another day's rest 
qualified me for the last climb, and next morning I left Bayview 
Lake, a beautiful mountain tarn walled in by blue limestone — 
some sixteen hundred feet below the camp of my friends, known 
here as Brown <fe Sloper's Camp. 

" Prospect" does not refer to the fine view, as romantic readers 
may imagine; it means simply a camp of prospectors. And 
wfio are prospectors? They are a strange, romantic race of 
treasure hunters, scattered all over this mountain country. 
They are never at rest; hunting for lodes, developing and 
selling out; in a poor camp longing for a goo(i one, in a good 
one longing for a better, and if perchance they "strike it rich," 



SCIENCE AND BUSINESS. 331 

nine times out often they sell quickly, spend the money lavishly,' 
and are off to prospect again. The man who has prospected a 
iew years rarely settles into a regular miner; though the latter 
of'teu prospects to find his own claim before working it. Of 
course they are a peculiar race ; of course they are superstitious 
about luck, have strange theories about lode-formation, preju- 
dices about the "run of the rock," and undoubted faith in their 
own future, and all expect soon or late to discover and develop a 
"Comstock" or an "Emma." How many of my readers ever 
saw a prospect for silver, or could trace a vein from surface 
indications, "crop," "float," etc.? For silver mining in the 
United States is a new thing, and your returned Californians, 
who may have spent half a lifetime in placer gold diggings, 
would know nothing therefrom of silver mining. Miners read 
the Scripture thus: " Surely there is a vein for silver, and a 
place for the gold where they find it." By this they mean that 
silver generally (not always) runs in lodes, defined ledges, layers 
in wall rock; but gold is " wdiere you find it" — in placer flats, 
beds of wash gravel, "pay dirt," eddies in shallow streams with 
natural "cleats" in the bed-rock, and in the dry flumes of 
extinct rivers. Silver mines — that is, real mines — have a 
defined seam ; their extent can be measured, their richness esti- 
mated, and the time required to get out the ore and its value 
per ton ; the stock is put upon the market, quoted and sold as 
legitimately as corn or wheat. Gold discovery is often an 
accident, creating an "excitement;" silver mining is an enduring 
industry, growing slowly through many years — except in the 
rare cases of chloride flats, horn-silver, etc., as at White Pine — 
lasting ten or twenty or hundreds of years, according to whether 
the discovery proves to be a " chamber," " pocket," or " de- 
posit," or a " true fissure vein." 

Come with me, then, and let us in imagination follow our 
" prospectors," now a thousand feet below me, and from their 
present action appearing to have " struck something " half-way 
down the cliff, where the limestone formation changes suddenly 
to slate and quartzite. This change is an important matter to 
us here ; for in looking for a vein of silver we are guided by 



332 



A COMPAIUSOX. 





PROSPECTING PARTY— IN UTAH. 



a system of laws. There are many exceptions, but the laws are 
almost invariable on the negative side ; we can tell positively 
Avhere silver is not, but can not always tell where it is. 

First, of course, we look for evidence of volcanic action. We 
would not expect to find silver in any quantity in a low valley 
or level country, for it is one of the heaviest metals, and must be 
forced in some way to the surface. We start up the mountains, 
but in the hills near their base, the rock is covered with heavy 
deposits of soil, and silver may be there, bnt it is hard to deter- 
mine. We want to get up to t!ie region of "geologic inter- 
ruptions," where the strata are heaved upon edge and overlap 
each other. If a jelly cake of six or eight layers be taken to 
represent the earth's crust, from granite up through quartzite, 
slate and limestone to the soil, then strike the cake underneath, 
knock it up into ridges and layers standing nearly jierpendicular, 
the bottom one in places overlapping the top one, and the jelly 
slowly settling back except where it is caught and confined by 
crevice or wall of harder material, and you will have a tolerable 



" FLOAT." 333 

map of a mining region : the surface denuded to a bare skeleton 
of the original mountain, the backbone of the range where the 
ledges are laid open. 

J3ut another element enters into this calculation — the heat 
which was active in the formation of the lodes; so the silver and 
lead thrown up by the primal convulsion, either burst their 
way through solid rock, and formed lodes thousands of feet in 
length, or lacking force, the fluid turned aside to existing crevices, 
01" "blew out" through hollow chambers, which so often mis- 
lead the miner. To each variety of these side affairs a specific 
and descriptive name is given, whence all the strange terms in 
mining parlance: "true lodes, fissure-veins, pinches, pockets, 
deposits, chambers, blow-outs, chimneys, fmnei'ols, dips, spurs, 
angles, variations and sinuosities." But few of any of these, 
however, reach the surface to guide us; even where lodes "crop 
out," the top rock is rarely of the same nature as that in the 
vein. Having found evidences of volcanic action, as we "pros- 
pect" up the mountains, the first thing we look for is "float." This 
consists of mineral broken ofi'from "croppings," or thrown out 
or washed out from fissures. It is of almost infinite varieties ; 
in general any piece of detached rock, big or little, " carrying 
indications of galena," is "float." Abundance of "float" on 
our line shows that the lode is — somewhere. But where? The 
majority of prospectors say it must be uphill from the "float;" 
but a respectable minority maintain that it may be downhill ; 
and I suspect they are right, as the hills may have changed 
their level since the "float" was deposited, or it may have been 
carried by other means than the common wear of the elements. 
So we must " trace." 

We are often assisted by mineral stain, particularly where 
water exudes from the rock. Copper stain is generally green, 
and mayor may not exist with silver; iron stain is red, and 
seldom exists with silver ; lead stain is of various shades, all 
easily known, and lead is never found without some silver. The 
"Pittsburg" mine in American Fork was develojjcd by digging 
merely from a deep lead stain ; but they had other fine indica- 
tions, particularly that the formation changed there from slate 



334 THE CHANCES. 

to limestone. "Between the runs of country rock" is the 
best place to look for a vein ; next to both walls being granite, a 
" foot wall" of slate or porphyry, and a hanging wall of other 
rock is to be preferred. From reasons given above, we are more 
apt to find our lode continuous if it is between two formations. 
At the " Pittsburg" stain they dug and struck a rich vein of 
carbonate ore in ten feet. Along that line between those two 
formations a hundred locations now extend for two miles. 

Our mineral stain, then, is encouraging, but by no means 
assures us of a good lode; for that we must dig. When we have 
found the "float" thick enough to suit us ; when there is the right 
stain on the rock ; when we are sure of the strata being right, 
then we must dig. Do we find a faint vein going down, though 
no tiiicker than a knife-blade? Do we encounter silica, ochre, 
or small brittle chunks of galena, and do we find a wall with 
clay selvage? Then we dig on until other indications warn us 
we might as well stop and save our money. We may be fooled 
at last. It may be a trifling crevice, formed by infiltration from 
some larger vein; it may be a "chimney" from some lode ten 
thousand feet away through solid rock, and it may be any one 
of the fifty other disappointments. Of all "prospects" struck, 
one in five becomes a location ; one location in five is pushed to 
some depth. Of those so pushed, one in ten pays something 
more than expenses, and become real mines, and of real mines 
one in a hundred develops into an "Emma" or a "Corastock." 

Logical reduction: The "prospectors" must strike, locate 
and develop twenty-five thousand times before he realizes his big 
expectations. For every dollar taken out of mines, eighty cents 
are spent; but that leaves a dollar and eighty cents in the 
country. Let us therefore encourage mining. 

Under the general fiict that lodes arc formed by volcanic 
action are many minor theories, each camp having a sort of 
science of its own, as there is a wide dilference "in the indi- 
cations" of any two camps. The following, for instance, I find 
to be universal in Cottonwood : In places fiir removed from the 
origin of the ore, the primal impetus was barely sufficient to 
force the ore to a certain hight; there meeting with obstructions, 



"a horse." 335 

the fluid column turned into crevices already existing. Thfese 
natural fissures are generally nearly horizontal. Hence, in fol- 
lowing down tlie first fissure struck, if it gradually clianges from 
the horizontal to the perpendicular, this is taken as an indication 
that one is nearing the original source of the ore, getting 
towards where it first started, and had force enough to burst 
straight upward through tiie solid rock. But, during this primal 
convulsion, immense masses of limestone, quartzite, porphyry, 
granite and other hard rocks fell back into the liquitl ore; and 
these now present sudden interruptions in even the most regular 
veins. Indeed, some theorists maintain that unless these 
" wedges" had fallen in, there would have been no lode, as the 
walls would have settled together, completely closing the fissure. 
But, of course, the opening is not perfectly regular; and a little 
calculation will show, I think, that there is not one chance in a 
thousand of the whole mountain side settling back exactly as it 
se})arated, so that the bulge on one side would strike the hollow 
on the other whence it came, and unless it did so, there would 
not be a complete closing. 

Such an interruption is known among miners as a "horse," and 
generally a small portion of the vein (or lode) can still be traced 
around or under it. So, when a miner following his shaft finds it 
suddenly stopped by a" wall of dead rock," (without metal), it may 
be from either of three causes : the obstruction may be a " horse," 
from a foot to five rods thick ; his supposed lode may be a mere 
"pocket," ending then and there ; or he may still be only in one 
of the " side fissures," which has taken a sudden turn, "pinching 
out" for a few rods, or "doubling back on the ledge." In such 
cases science seems to be at fault ; and though of the highest 
in)[)ortance to the practical miner, no two agree as to the mean- 
ing of the "indications." The miner's only recourse is to pick and 
blast, onward or downward, until he finds something, or con- 
vinces himself there is nothing. 

Sometimes, again, the miner starts with a vein a foot or more 
wide, expecting to reach the main lode very soon ; but finds it 
narrowing rapidly to an inch in width ; then it suddenly 
"chambers" to some size, then "pinches" to the thickness of a 



336 SUMMIT OF BALD PEAK. 

knife blade, or sinks to a mere stain on the wall rock, and so on, 
"pinching" and "pocketing" alternately towards the interior. 
My friends in the " Kentucky" followed such a " pinching" vein for 
a hundred feet, when it terminated in a " chamber " about the size 
of a barrel and full of rich ore ; and that was the last of that vein. 
The vein of the celebrated "Emma" was followed nearly two 
hundred feet before they struck " good pay-rock." 

From Bayview I came down to more temperate regions, and 
inspected all the mines south of Central City, seriatim. At noon 
of the last day we were at the "Peruvian," and four thousand 
feet above us towered the top of Bald Peak. It was stated by 
the miners, that no visitor had ever reached it the first day, which 
excited our ambition, and we determined on the attempt. 
Striking directly up the bare mountain side, which inclines in 
the upper part at least sixty degrees, we struggled on for three 
hours, to the highest point on the Wasatch Range — 12,000 feet 
above the level of the sea. A breath of relief and a long look 
around the horizon were succeeded by astonishment and awe, 
which held us long in subdued silence. 

A hundred miles to the north-east, Medicine Butte rose in 
plain view; a hundred miles south appeared the peaks of Iron 
^Mountain and Mount Nebo ; as far to the east, the slopes above 
Uintah River ; while all the northern and southern shores of 
Great Salt Lake could be traced as easily as upon a map: one 
comprehensive view of thirty thousand square miles of moun- 
tain, valley and gorge, fringed by clouds below our level and 
lighted up by the declining sun. Salt Lake City was hidden 
from our sight by the Twin Peaks ; but above that place the 
whole of Jordan Valley lay in plain view, with the river down 
the center like an irregular band of silver. The air was unusually 
clear, as is common just after the first autumnal storm, and 
we could scarcely have found a more fiivorable day for the view 
in the entire year. Tlic descent was much faster than the ascent 
had been, tiiough, in proportion to time, much more wearisome; 
but we reached our cabin by dark, and soon after slept the sleep 
of the just and the weary. 

The two days following, I visited the mines on the northern 



PRESENT CONDITION. 



337 




OVER TO BIG COTTONWOOD. 
22 



f 

',; side. From thirty 

to forty tons of ore 

daily were leaving the 

caiion, good for an average 

profit of a hnndred and 

fifty dollars i)er ton. The 

p^^7t ^ quantity M'as increasing 

^VmM'^ raj)idly, and still continues 

to increase. 

Everything else has 
changed wondrously. Min- 
ers and Gentiles have taken 
possession of the region. At 
the mouth of the canon 
stands the beautiful village 
of Emmaville, inhabited by 
miners and their families ; a 
mile above it is Granite- 
ville, erected entirely by 
the business about Colonel 
David Buel's great smelt- 
ing works, and further up 
in the mining regions are 
Alta and Central City, 
containing together some 
six hundred inhabitants. 



338 A DAY OF CLIMBING. 

Big Cottonwood lies just north of Little Cottonwood, sepa- 
rated by a rocky ridge, barely passable at two or tiuce 
places; and the last day I was on the northern side, the air in 
that direction seemed to grow more hazy than usual. Looking 
northward, we saw the whole sky of a peculiar ash and copper 
color, and old mountaineers shook their heads ominously, and 
said : " The fire is out in Big Cottonwood." From where I 
stood it was not more than eight miles in a direct line, to the 
noted lake at the head of Bi^ Cottonwood, where the Mormons 
celebrate the 24th of July — "Anniversary Day ;" but it was im- 
possible to reach it along the cliffs, and we must descend into Little 
Cottonwood, and pass over another " divide," to what is known 
as Silver Fork, opening into the other canon. Next morning the 
mountain to})S were shrouded in smoke, and I spent the day in 
Little Cottonwood, hearing reports from the other side. About 
4 P. M. a great white column shot into the sky for thousands of 
feet, apparently just over the "divide," then swaying back and 
forth settled into the shape of an immense cone, and we knew 
to a certainty that the wind was "down the canon," and conse- 
quently the fire nearing the town and smelting works. It took 
me all the next day to pass the "divide,' for the lowest point on 
the ridge is three thousand five hundred feet above Central, and 
the descent still greater on the northern side. 

If the reader has ever run up a steep pair of stairs, let him 
imagine two hundred such in succession, varied with jutting rocks 
and boulders, and that in an atmosphere so light that dyspnoea 
results from the slightest exertion, and he will have a faint idea 
of this climb. It is amusing to notice new comers and watch 
its effect upon them. Some men get used to the rarefied air in a 
few days;, others labor in breathing for weeks or months, 
and still others never gain in breathing capacity. Stranger still, 
it is not the stoutest men always who take most easily to the 
hills. The best mountaineer in this camp is just my size, 
(one hundred and twenty-five pounds,) and of very slender 
limbs, without an ounce of fat, but he has large hands and feet, 
and a chost like a gorilla. 

When I reached that side the fire was still a mile above, but. 



AN AWFUL SIGHT. 339 

moving slowly on the town. When night fell the scene was 
indesci-ibably grand. From the summit of Granite Mountain, 
dividing the heads of Big and Little Cotton woods, down through 
the lake region and "Mill Canon," to the tops of Uintaii Hills, 
for eight miles in a semicircle around and above us, the view 
was bounded by great swaying sheets of flame. The sky to the 
zenith was a bright blood red, and down to the west a gleaming 
waxy yellow; while almost over us Honeycomb Peak, where 
the timber had burned to a coal, and which was divided from 
us by a large rocky gorge, stood out detached and glowing red 
like a volcano outlined against the sky. 

Morning came, and with it detachments of miners from 
neighboring camps, working their way through the lower defiles, 
to fell timber and "burn against the fire." The town is in a 
grove of quaking asp, and was in no great danger ; but across 
Cottonwood Creek, where the Smelting Works stand, the growth 
is mountain pine, which burns green or dry. The whole canon 
was so full of smoke that the sun could barely be discerned, and 
the pyrotechnics of the night had given place to a deathlike 
gloom. From the creek to the mountain summit south was a 
roaring mass of flames, when at noon the wind suddenly changed, 
and for twenty-four hours blew almost a hurricane up the canon. 
The timber had been felled for two hundred yards around the 
"works; it was now set on fire and the great business enterprise 
of this camp Avas saved. After the day of wind came rain, then 
snow, and next morning the latter, four inches deep, was melting 
slowly into black rand. 

A week in Big Cottonwood convinced me there was a great 
deal to learn about mining, and I was about to start on a vigor- 
ous campaign against the hills, when the semi-weekly mail 
arrived from the city bringing news. Judge McKean's Court 
had reached a decisive point, and matters looked warlike. Two 
letters I received spoilt my appetite for " prospecting." 

The first, from a gentleman in the Review (Gentile paper) 
office, contained this : 

" Matters look squally here, you bet. The co-op. store 
bought a thousand muskets at the Government sale, and they 



340 A HUGE SCARE. 

are all in the hands of the 'brethren.' They say they are 
drilling every night. For three nights we kept a lookout, 
expecting the office to be attacked. Fifty or a hundred men 
marched up one night and stood in front of it, but made no 
sign. It is known that Brighain is indicted, and a few of the 
Gentiles are nervous. If signs don't deceive me, there will be 
work for warriors; so come down in time." 

The other letter was in a sort of nervous-hystericky, Italian 
hand, the gist of it running thus : 

"We are so glad you are up in Cottonwood, Avhere every- 
body's Gentile. Mr. S. says they will kill all the Gentiles and 
Apostates first thing. Do you really think there is much danger? 
I know there is some. Ma says she a'nt afraid of the Mormons; 
but all the miners will come in, and they will fight right in the 
streets, and rob everybody. O, dear, I never was out of Utah 
in my life, and a'nt it dreadful if we all get killed right here? 
Don't come down a Sunday ; go to American Fork, or go away 
down to Star District. Of course they'll kill you first one." 

Of course, I answered by taking the earliest conveyance, at 
G next morning, for the city, well knowing, though there might 
be some excitement, there was no more danger of a general 
fight than there is to-day in New York. The down-hill of six- 
teen miles to the valley, which requires half a day going up, 
we made in a little over two hours, and thence traversing the 
"bench "and hill behind the penitentiary, came in full view 
of the city, just as the morning sun rose above the Wasatch, its 
bright beams reflecting beautifully from the freshly-fallen snow 
on the summit. Below ns lay the city, calm and peaceful as on 
a Puritan Sabbath. Rain had fallen since ray departure ; the 
dust was laid and the air clear, cool and stimulating. The 
streams were again running among the checkered squares, map- 
ped out before us, and lacing all the green plats with bright 
and flowing borders. There were no signs of war there. The 
excitement was measurably over, but as the nation had never 
really asserted its full authority in Utah before, we can scarcely 
blame the Gentiles for thinking such unwonted action must 
produce v/ar. The most ridiculous rumors had agitated the city. 



BRIGHAM AN INFIDEL. 341 

The Mormon ])apers and speakers had exhausted their resourees 
depicting what might be the result " if the people should be goaded 
beyond forbearance," taking precious good care all the time not to 
directly threaten resistance; for matters looked as if the Federal 
authorities meant " business." All day Sunday rumors thickened. 
Many ladies came and anxiously inquired of ray hostess (an Eng- 
lish woman who has been here since '49) " if she really thought 
there was any danger," to which she replied, with a contemptuous 
sniff, " No, no, I've been through forty such excitements as 
this. There won't be a drop o' blood spilt. Brigham's got 
too much sense." There she touched the root of the matter- 
The whole position turned on this question. Is Brighara an im- 
postor or a fanatic? If the former, he will never raise his 
finger for "this people " to take up arms, and they are too well 
under control to fight before he does raise it. An impostor is 
governed by the ordinary rules which influence men in war 
and business, but a fanatic never stops to count noses. He 
dashes in, regardless of odds, with " God's on our side ; one 
shall chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight." 
And should this be Brigham's caliber, he could have had every 
one of us massacred in a day. Although he and his people 
should suffer for it afterward, that would be small comfort to 
us, the decapitated. But I knew that Brigham was not a fanatic, 
and, consequently, there was no danger. Like all new comers, 
I once was disposed to credit Brighara with being honest in his 
religion. But I was long ago convinced, by most undoubted 
proofs, that he has no faith in it whatever. He is siraply a 
philosophic infidel, believing, as he has substantially said, that 
he had " as good a right as Christ, or Mohararaed, or any other 
man, to set up a new religion." So none of the old Gentile 
residents or officials were a particle disturbed. 

But new comers were nervous. The wives of Governor 
Woods and Frank Kenyon, proprietor of the Revieio, went on a 
long-contemplated visit to California, and when the report reached 
me it ran that " all the Gentile ladies in the upper part of town 
were leaving; that the Governor had sent away his family, for 
he knew there would be trouble." A day or two after, repeated 



342 I GO TO BINGHAM. 

dispatches came back from the East of the bloody doings in 
Salt Lake and the flight of the Gentiles, all of which read 
amusingly enough there when the scare was over. On Sun- 
day night two hundred soldiers arrived, and a day or two after 
as many more ; but the Mormon papers had passed from the 
extreme of incendiarism to tiie extreme of deprecating all ex- 
citement. They had only hinted before what might be ; they 
now took special pains to declare in the plainest words that 
" there was no excitement among the people ; there would be 
no resistance to law ; everything would go peaceably to a just 
conclusion. God and the Supreme Court would reverse all this 
action," etc. Brigham was formally arrested on Tuesday, and 
Daniel H. Wells on Wednesday, and both gave bonds to appear 
the next week. 

The comical feature of the whole affair was the perfect celerity 
with which all the Mormon leaders backed square down from 
their old positions, and, after all their threats, never hinted at 
resistance; and, particularly, the ease with which they were 
able to convince the fanatical people that it was all for the best. 

The excitement was over; the Saints had concluded to trust 
in " God and the Supreme Court," and there was no " work 
for warriors " or war correspondents either. The " nervous- 
hystericky Italian hand " resumed its beautiful regularity on 
pink-tinted "acceptances," and, after a few days, I struck out 
again for the mounta'ins, this time going to Bingham Caiion. 

The mouth of Bingham is twenty-four miles southwest of 
Salt Lake City, and thence the canon opens directly across the 
Oquirrh, or West Mountains. The aboriginal name means 
" Lost Mountains," from the fact, probably, that this range is 
detached, terminating abruptly on tlie north at the shore of 
Salt Lake. The characteristic of Bingham is immense bodies 
of low-grade ore. The West Jordan Mine, which is accounted 
the oldest in Utah, is simply a vast hill of " black galena" ore 
— enough to employ a hundred men for fifty years, but yielding 
only fifty dollars a ton in silver. It was " located" September 
17, 1863, and among the fifty names signed to the By-laws and 
District Organization appear those of General P. E. Connor, 



GENERAL P. E. CONNOR. 



343 




IN THE AVEST JORDAN MINE. 



and William Hickman, in queer proximity, considering their 
present relative conditions. General Connor was then in com- 
mand of this military district, and with that restless energy 
which distinguishes him, was exploring the whole country, with 
Hickman for a guide, marking out military roads, establishing 
closer relations with such Indians as were friendly, and fighting 
those that were not. His soldiers, all from Nevada and Cali- 
fornia, put in their spare time prospecting, and established 
several districts now famous. But Bingham was the only one 
which held out. No mines were then found that would pay 
without railroad transportation. The bullion turned out averaged 
ninety-eight and a half per cent, of lead and one and a half 



344 OPHIR DISTRICT. 

per cent, of silver to the ton ; and they had no refining and 
separating works. Freight across the Plains was twenty-fivo 
cents per pound, and lead in the States was worth ten cents. 
The result was — twenty-five into ten "goes no times " and Mteen 
cents over the wrong way. Now ten thousand miners are at 
•work in Utah, and her developed mines are worth tioenty-jive 
million dollars ! 

Verdict: The Union Pacific /ec/^. 

On the morning of October 10th, as I was starting up Mark- 
ham Gulch, a friend arrived from the city with the news, 
" They say there is a big fire iu Chicago." Next night I 
returned ; Chicago was in ashes ; a mass meeting was called, and 
Bingham, with a population of eight hundred, at once raised 
$500 for the sufferers. No late event illustrates like that fire 
how closely the civilized world is being drawn together by the 
ties of commerce and religion. Every part of the great body 
feels a local to be a general ill, and hastens to alleviate. Let us 
cease to look backward for the better day. It is before us. 
This day has more of light and humanity than any that have 
gone before, and steel and steam are the true motors for the 
" golden age." 

West of the Oquirrh lies Rush Valley ; at its northeast corner 
is Stockton Mining District ; at the southeast East Canon breaks 
abruptly into the mountains, bordered by two districts ; while 
west of it are Columbia and Cedar Mountain Districts. I went 
over to East Cailon, and, with headquarters at Ophir City, 
put in two weeks diligently studying the formation. I had 
taken the contract of writing an "exhaustive report" on the 
mines of Utah for the Review — Gentile Journal of Salt Lake 
City — and at the end of a month could talk learnedly of "shafts, 
tunnels, drifting, sinking, going down on the lode, chlorides, 
bromides, galena and bed-rock, footwalls and hantrino: walls." 
Then I read reports of mining experts, and became confused. I 
traveled another month, took accounts of the miners and studied 
the rocks; and at the end of that time came to the conclusion 
tiiat one man knows ahoid as much what is in the ground, out 
of sight, as another. I may have been wrong in this conclusion. 
If so, I am willing; to be for2;iven. 



TEETER S MINE. 



345 



But I was as wild as anybody by this time, and determined 
to invest a little. One N. C. Teeter had developed a " location" 
he called the " Ida Elmore/' till he reached pay-rock, and con- 
cluded it was worth a quarter of a million dollars. As we sat 
in his cabin on Mineral Hill of evenings, he deeply lamented 
his inability to go East and sell it; and "supposed he should 
have to take $50,000 for it, as he could not sell for more than 
one-fifth of its value in Utah." Meanwhile he would prospect 
*•' for any man who would pay for grub, powder, fuse, sharpen- 
ing tools and assays, sharing even in all that was struck." On 
such an arrange- 
ment we agreed, 
taking in Mr. 
Edward Nason 
as equal partner. 
I advanced $200 
on written con- 
tract, and went 
on with my tra- 
vels; and we soon 
hud three "loca- 
tions recorded" 
which promised" 
well. I went to 
other districts, 
and the next I 
lieard of Teeter 
he was in Penn- 
sylvania — "gone 
home to get mar- 
ried ; would re- 
turn early in the spring." He had sold all his claims in East 
Canon, the magnificent " Ida Elmore" included, for $300, and 
with his dividend of my money thought this the best chance to 
get home. Six months after I heard from him : " He had not 
intended to defraud me — had expected to come back — had been 
sick — was working on a bridge at two dollars a day — and 




ON LION HILL— OPHIR DISTRICT. 



346 WHERE MY POSSESSIONS LIE. 

expected thereby to raise money enough to marry on." To 
such a plight came the owner of " a $250,000 mine." 

Nason stuck to the claims honestly; did work enough to hold 
them, under the District laws, and I am still the happy owner 
of an "undivided, one-third interest" in three claims of eight 
hundred feet each on Mineral Hill; and an errant prospector 
whom I met last November, tells me that a weatherbeaten stake 
in an abandoned neighborhood, above a hole in the ground, still 
bears this : 

NOTICE. 

" November 2Qth, 1871. 
" We, the undersigned, claim eight hundred (800) feet on this ledge, lode or 
vein, of mineral-bearing rock — counting each way from this notice — with all its 
dips, spurs and angles. Work done according to the By-Laws of Ophir District. 
The same known and recorded as the Ad Valorem Lode. 

" J. n. Beadle, 200 feet. 
" E. G. Nason, 200 feet. 
" N. C. Teetek, 200 feet. 
" Discovery, 200 feet." 

I have not heard a word from "my mines" or "resident 
partner" for six months, and my conclusion therefore is, "No 
dividends declared." 

Mining districts abound with " bilks," and the experienced 
tell me I got off cheap. I have known miners to pick up a 
piece of rich ore from an old mine, hammer it into a crevice in 
the side of a shaft, and when a visitor came pick it out as a 
"specimen" of the new mine. "Salting a claim" after the old 
mode is too well known, and a score of new dodges are invented. 
" Top-rock " is generally what the visitor sees most of, and he 
is told, "Of course it gets richer as you go down." This may 
or may not be the case. In some ores disintegration by ele- 
mental action takes away all but the " pay-rock," and that on 
the surface is the only part that is rich. But the mines of Utah 
are too great for their development to be retarded by sucli tricks. 
The growth of this interest has been steady, healthful and rapid; 
and with improved transportation and machinery, a hundred 
mines now unvvorked will prove remunerative. 

My attempt as mining reporter was scarcely a success, praise 



I CEASE MINING. 



3-17 



and blame provoking equal censure, and I retired with tlio 
annexed "valedictory" in tiie columns of the Review: 

"This is my last on Utah mines. The business has proved 
to me a rather thankless and unprofitable one. Without much 
knowledge of the subject, I started out to gather information as 
far as possible from disinterested sources. I could not praise 
all mines; I could not praise some without an implied com- 
parison with others; the neglect to praise was a slight, the 
comparison was considered odious. Being human, I have una- 
voidably made some mistakes. Every line I have written has 
subjected me to harsh censure ; every statement has gained me 
an enemy ; every paragraph has lost me a friend. My stock on 
hand is not large enough to stand so ruinous a drain. For the 
mines I praised, I am accused of having received pay. Had I 
received it, I might stand the swearing. To get the curses and 
miss the cash is a ruinous business. That there are many good 
mines I know ; but the time has not come to do them, or the 
others, justice. Until it does come, excuse me. 

Beadle." 




VERTICAL SECTION OF A QUARTZ MINE. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

A CHANGE OF BASE. 

A hard winter— The last rain— Eastward— A merry party— The great Blockade 
—On the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad — Southwestern Missouri — Among the 
Cherokees— Spring roads— Up into Kansas— Meet C. G. DuBruler, Esq., and 
return — Down to Muscogee. 

^% 
CSflll INTER "pinched in" on mining operations in Utah, 

and I seized the occasion to visit the East. Coming 

down from the mountains to Salt Lake City, I found 
V^^V that heavy snows had fallen over eight hundred miles 

of the Union Pacific; there had been two days' delay 
of the trains, and five hundred people were in the city waiting 
to start. There was a vast amount of discussion, and no little 
grumbling at such a delay. But a few, who claimed extra 
knowledge of the climate, thus oracularly pronounced : "If the 
winter ])r(>vcs unusually severe, the road may be blocked a week 
at a time," which proyoked a chorus of dissent from expectant 
passengers. Little they knew what a "hard >yinter" meant. 

The travelers held frequent conferences, and the general con- 
clusion was, " We will wait till one or two trains have run 
through on time, then take the next. With these women and 
children we don't want to stop an hour on the road." But 
eight single gentlemen, myself included, determined to take the 
first train and risk it. We waited through the day at Ogden, 
leaving that place at night instead of morning, and ran through 
to Omaha without losing an hour. Being out of the regular 
time we were delayed there half a day, then made time to New 
York — losing twenty-four hours on the entire trip. We left 
Salt Lake on Saturday morning, and sat down to an eight 
o'clock breakfast at the Astor House the next Friday morning. 

348 



JOLLITY BY RAIL. 349 

It was the jolHest trip of the age. Eight gentlemen in o-.w 
PuHman Palace Car from " Zion" to Gotham : Messrs. Ship- 
man and Sherman, merchants of New York city ; Mr. Fisher, 
an elderly retired merchant of Philadelphia ; Hon. Andlev 
Coote, an English gentleman returning from Australia; Mr. 
Rice, a middle-aged Bostonian, coming home from a ten years' 
residence in the ports of China ; the writer, and a foreigner with 
unpronounceable name, who joked in four languages and swore 
in a dozen more with graceful fluency. Antici[)ating a blockade, 
we had laid in "supplies." Rolling along, twenty-five miles 
per hour, through the rugged gorges of the AVasatch, over the- 
barren plains of Wyoming, between the lofty snow-banks of tiie 
Black Hills, out upon the high plains and down the long five 
hundred mile incline to the Missouri, then through fertile Iowa 
and the Northern States, by night and by day we made the car 
a rolling palace of gayety : without were storm and darkness, 
sleet and snow rattling against the windows; within song and 
laughter, cigars, "spirituals" and genial society. We repre- 
sented all parts of the world, and each knew just what the others 
wanted to hear. It was indeeda trip long to be remembered 
by all the parties, and as the genial Englishman and I took our 
farewell "smile," just before he went on the steamer, I thought 
after all there was something in the High Joint Commission, 
and all this talk about "our common language" and "common 
Shakspeare, Milton," and all that. 

One more train ran through on time, then another week's 
blockade took place ; and most of the five hundred we left win- 
tered Avith the Mormons. A few trains got through from one 
to eight days behind time, and then the "great blockade of 
1872" began. Of its horrors I know only by report. I had 
reached the eastern side of the mountains, and when the time 
came to return there was no use making the attempt. But 
when I passed over the road eight months after, the effects were 
still to be seen in the debris of wrecked cars at various points. 
The moral to be drawn from it was, that Rocky INIountain 
winters are very variable and uncertain. 

" Ijate falls and late springs" is the formula of old residents 



350 



SNOW BT.O(5KAl>KS. 



ill the mountains; and it is popularly added, that every third 
winter is very hard, every seventh winter terribly and excep- 
tionally hard, while every seventeenth winter kills everything 
that is caught out, man or beast. Deducting the exaggeration 
of exactness due to the popular and world-wide notions about 
the odd and mystic numbers, three, seven and seventeen, it is 
still a fact that at certain intervals, occurring with an approach 
to regularity, there are long periods of cold or unusual falls of 
vain through the Rocky Mountains. My first winter in Utah 

was so mild that work 
on the Union and Cen- 
tral Paeiiies was not 
f^nu suspended a day. Tlie 
'-f'ir' next two winters were 
only a little more severe; 
^ then came the terribly 
|, hard season of 1871- 
'72. We may look for 
/'^f long and deep snows 
as often as every third 
winter; and many of 
them as bad as that 
which caused the great 
blockade ; but with the 
snow sheds since con- 
I strueted, and other pre- 
cautions, we may reas- 
^ onably expect no more 
blockades. 

When I had been 
three months in the 
East the blockade was but partly raised, business did not prom- 
ise well in Utah, and there was great interest in the proposed 
Thirty-fifth Parallel Pailroad. San Francisco and St Louis 
had shaken hands over it, and guaranteed thirty million dollars, 
and sanguine Cincinnatians believed the road was to be built 
rig-ht away. Under these circumstances I accepted a new 




ONE LANGUAGE— TWO " SMILES. " 



WESTERN RATES OF FARE. 351 

mission : to inspect that line, or as much of it as possible, from 
St. Louis to San Diego, 

On the morning of March 21st — a bitter cold day — I left St. 
Louis by way of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, and ran all 
day through the poorest country I ever saw east of the Ameri- 
can Desert. The general direction of the road is west-southwest; 
on the one side the streams flow eastward into the Mississippi, 
and on the other northward into the Missouri ; and for the entire 
distance this road seems to wind about so as to keep exactly on 
the "divide" between these headwaters, on hard, barren ridges. 
Its present terminus is at Vinita, some forty miles into the 
Indian Territory, and three hundred and sixty-five from St. 
Louis, for which distance each passenger pays the moderate 
price (for the West) of eighteen dollars and fifty cents. 

Nothing surprises Eastern pilgrims so much, and I may add 
so painfully, as the steady increase of prices as they go west- 
ward. The traveler from New York to San Francisco finds a 
regularly increasing tariff, at the rate of one or two cents per 
mile, at each change of cars. On the New York Central he 
pays two cents per mile; on the Michigan Central three cents; 
from Chicago westward four cents, with liberal discount for 
through tickets, and through Iowa five cents. On crossing the 
Missouri River he takes a big jump and pays seven cents per 
mile on the Union Pacific, and at Ogden changes to the Central 
Pacific at ten cents per mile (currency) thence to Sun Francisco. 
If he grumbles he is told : " It's the custom of the country ; 
everything is high out here," etc. ; at least that's all the satis- 
faction I ever got. Stage fare increases at even a greater ratio : 
five cents in the East, ten in Iowa and Nebraska, and twenty 
in the Territories. Provisions also increase in price, but in 
much smaller ratio. To travel long out West a man must be, 
in the local phrase, "well heeled." This road, if I may judge 
from the (Country, ought to charge fifty cents per mile, for surely 
there can be no way trade worth naming. 

We had a bright enough day for the trip, but saw every- 
where evidences of an unusually hard winter and late spring. 
No swelling buds, no birds, no shade of green ; but heavy 



352 SOUTHWESTERX JMISSOURI. 

smoke from the few dwellings, and along the streams ice in 
plenty. The country seemed to get poorer every mile. The 
soil was white or yellow, the timber scrubby, and the few 
houses of most ancient "double-log" uattern ; in the sheds 
between the rooms, or under the projecting roofs, were the old 
style wooden pins, hung full of gears and "varmint" skins, 
among which played or reposed lank dogs and dirty, towheaded 
children. Occasionally a switch-tail sorrel horse, about half 
size, and better framed than filled in, languidly moved out of 
the way of the train: or the hazel brush opened to view a 
black and sandy spotted hog, about four feet long and four 
inches thick, with legs like an elk, and nose like a bowsj>rit. 
I did not see a single fat specimen, brute or human. The few 
towns were indescribable — no streets, no regularity, no paint, 
no style — and at each stop the train was surrounded by shiftless 
crowds of gaunt, long-haired men, yellow, short-haired women, 
and no-colored children — the old folks often with cob pipes, 
the men with grizzled beards, streaked with tobacco juice, and 
the women with high-backed combs which looked like sections 
of a flax scutchell. Toward Rolla the country grew a little 
better, and a few of the local aristocracy came aboard. Their 
hair was cut short and covered with close, slick caps, stuck on 
one side of the head. They were clad in stout riding suits, 
with heavy jangling spurs, and carried heavy riding whips. 
Their clothes were "trimmed with ruchings" of horsehairs; 
their boots smelt of horse, they looked all horse, and their talk 
was of the horse, horsey. 

At Rolla we found a good eating-house and a pretty fair 
town, but soon after entered a worse country than ever, too poor 
even to produce timber, and this continued to near Springfield, 
which we reached soon after dark. There we stopped tor the 
night, " to catch the express train in the mornin'," the conduc- 
tor said, though that struck me as a rather queer way to catch 
anything. That seems to be the Southern Missouri style, how- 
ever. Old Springfield is two miles or more from the railroad, 
but at the depot has sprung up a new, raoderu, and decidedly 
tasty town, with a first-class hotel of the new Southern style. 



LIFE AND TASTE. 353 

In the morning we were astonished to find the ground covered 
with three inches of snow, and more coming, " tlie Ekynoxual 
stawra," the landlord said, and for aught I know, he may be 
correct. 

" What are the productions of this region ? " I asked a citi- 
zen at breakfast. 

" Oh, cawn, muils, sweet taters, and stock. Not as much 
cawn as afo' the wah, but mo' stock. Things changed 'round 
so since the wah. Been better for some places, wuss fo' others. 
Lots o' our people kep a fussin after they come hoam. Then 
about three yeahs ago the wusst ones went off to Arkansaw and 
the Injun Nation, and new eemigrants tuck their place. But 
these new fellows settled all in spots, and the places wher' they 
settled has gone ahead, ye see, and the rest of the country's 
gone back." 

Springfield and Rolla are the only places where I have observed 
any signs of "new eemigrants." The train started at 7.30 and 
soon took us out of the Springfield oasis into a worse country, 
if possible, than we had yet traversed. Wearied of the sight, 
I concluded to read, and the train boy brought his stock of 
books, which struck me as so good an index of the taste of 
most of his customers on this road that I made out a list : 
" Confession of Hildebrand, the Outlaw, Murderer and Guer- 
rilla;" "Confession and Trial of Ruloff, the Learned Mur- 
derer ; " "Life and Death of James Fisk ; " " The Coral Lady ; " 
" Mysteries of New York ; " " Confession of Horn, a Wife 
Murderer ; " " Ginger Snaps ; " " Habits of Good Society ; " 
"Jolly Joker," and two of Charles Reade's works. Such is the 
mental aliment of the average traveling public here. The 
country continued barren till we neared the edge of the Indian 
Territory. Then we got upon a down grade in a narrow but 
pretty valley, which widened rapidly towards Grand River. 
We crossed a narrow strip of woodland belonging to the 
Seneca Indians, then came out upon a rich prairie clothed with 
beautiful groves and bordered with fine timber, in the country 
of the Cherokees. 

An hour's run through the " Nation " brought us to Yinita. 
23 



354 RAILROAD LINES. 

The terminus of the Atlantic and Pacific is only a mile beyond, 
and here it is crossed by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Rail- 
road, running due south. By the treaty of 1866, two railroads 
were to be allowed to run through the Indian Territory, and by 
Government charter this priviledge was granted to the two 
roads which reached the border first. The Leavenworth, Law- 
rence and Galveston road and the Kansas and Fort Scott road 
both started for it, but were distanced by the Missouri, Kansas 
and Texas; hence both of them terminate at the border. The 
Atlantic and Pacific reached it first from the East, early in 1871, 
was soon after completed to Vinita and stopped, " waiting the 
action of Congress," the people say. The JNIissouri, Kansas 
and Texas was running to Canadian River, seventy miles south 
of Vinita, whence stages ran through Texas to El Paso, iu 
Mexico, and to Fort Sill, in the western part of the Territory. 
The railroad is to continue on to the gulf, or tap the Texas 
Central. 

At Vinita is the junction of two long lines in a new country, 
with good soil, climate and timber, and Ave should naturally 
expect to see a place. In Kansas or Nebraska we should see a 
city of life and activity, lots selling at from one hundred to two 
thousand dollars, dwellings and stores going up on every hand, 
one or two live journals blowing the place as the "future metro- 
polis of the boundless West, the last great chance for profitable 
investment," etc., and a dozen streets lively with the rattle of 
active commerce. Here, we do see nothing. We feel the dead calm 
of stagnation ; we breathe the atmosphere of laziness. There 
is one tolerable hotel, one stone store, and two frame ones, kept 
respectively by a Cherokee and a Delaware ; and, besides the 
railroad employes, there is a population of perhaps a hundred 
— a few good men, more shiftless whites, average Indians and 
suspicious-looking half-breeds. 

New comers soon get disgusted and leave. The railroads 
own the adjacent land, and in September, 1871, laid off a town, 
and had a sale of lots. They ranged from $80 to $200. 
Februry '72 the same lots sold at from $15 to $60. 

The trade of the country was next to nothing. Cattle were 



" MIXED." 355 

the only export, atid the money received for them was all that 
came into the country. Nowhere is there a surplus of grain 
raised, and along the border there is considerable import of 
staples from Missouri and Arkansas.. This portion of the 
Ciierokee country is but little settled. Most of that tribe live 
on Grand River, extending a continuous line of settlements 
down to Tahlequah, their capital, seventy miles from Vinita. 

My first Sabbath in the " Nation " was bright and clear, 
with a shade of green upon the prairies, and all the indications 
of advancing spring; and being informed that there was ''an 
Injin school-house with preaching som 'ers three miles down 
on Cabin Creek," I started to hunt it. Before I was a mile on 
my way, the wind rose with surprising suddenness and blew 
almost a hurricane for the rest of the day. This is the most 
windy part of the West I have yet visited, and I suppose it is 
for that reason I always find the Indians living in the timber 
along the creeks. 

Nobody could tell me what route to take, so I called at the 
first house, where I was directed to the next by the occupant, 
who announced himself as a "White Cherokee." 

" Is your neighbor an Indian ? " I asked. 

" Well, he has an Injin family." 

" And the next man ? " 

" Well, he's sorter white, but he's married to a Shawnee 
girl. Next house thar lives a White Cherokee, but that man 
over thar knows most about the country. Better ask him." 

I went as directed to a pretentious frame house, the nicest I 
had yet seen in the " Nation," where I found a family of nine 
children and young people, of just nine different shades of 
color, from pure white, with blue eyes and red hair, to almost 
pure Indian. 

I found the owner very communicative and rather intelli- 
gent. His first wife, he informed me, was half Shawnee, from 
Canada, and her first husband was a full-blood Cherokee. 
Hence the three children of that union were nearly full-blood. 
By this woman he had four children, only quarter-blood, but 
differing very much in shade. He then married an Irish 



356 



REVERSION." AND "SURVIVAL. 




MY CHEROKEE FRIENDS. 



(blonde) woman ; they had two children, one a clear-skinned, 
freckled, blue-eyed Celt, the other dark enough to pass for a 
" White Cherokee." 

" It's singular how it will come back in this country," he 
explained. "I've known 'em to have regular Injun children 
after two generations of nearly white, and children of pure 
white people born here are often very dark. I know two 
"White Cherokees, married, that you couldn't tell either of 'era 
from a regular white person, and they've a whole family of 
nearly full-bloods. Old Injuns say it comes back on 'em 
sometimes after people have done forgot they had any Injun 
blood in 'em." This statement is confirmed by all the " White 
Cherokees" I have talked with on the subject 



THE CONGREGATION. 357 

A mile farther on I was overtaken by a Mr. Parks and 
laraily, and accepted a ride with them to the church. Like 
the more intelligent citizens of the " Nation," he was quite 
communicative, and, learning ray business, insisted on my 
spending the day, after church, at his house. He was a native 
of East Tennessee, his father a white man, and his mother a 
half Cherokee, who refused to come with the main body of the 
tribe in the spring of 1839. He fought through the war on 
the Southern side, then came out and claimed his citizenship in 
the " Nation," to which he was admitted by the Supreme 
Court (or Principal Chiefs), after proving his ancestry. He 
showed not the slightest trace of Indian blood, but his little 
boy looked like a half-breed. His youngest daughter had the 
rolling black eye and sad expression of the Cherokee, with a 
fair skin; while the older ones, misses of eighteen or twenty, 
were both fair and beautiful. Both were dressed very richly, 
with black silk dresses and mantillas. Rich dresses were 
numerous at church, particularly of corn-color silk, this and 
black and red being the prevailing colors. Many of these 
people were quite wealthy before the war, and remnants of 
their wealth remain in costly shawls and jewelry, which seem 
oddly out of place amid the general poverty. 

The place of worship was a rude log school-house, perhaps 
twenty-five feet square, the cracks covered with clapboards, and 
the congregation consisted of fifty-two persons — not a full- 
blooded Indian among them. 

Most of that color live east of Grand River, and Cabin 
Creek is considered rather a community of half-bloods. The 
school teacher, with M'hom I conversed after service, was as 
white a woman as I ever saw, with blue eyes and light brown 
hair ; yet she is considered a Cherokee, and traces her ancestry 
from pure bloods. Rev. Mr. Valentine, who preached to us, is 
also considered "a citizen of the Nation," and, though of pure 
white blood, was born and reared among the Cherokees. Just 
as, before the war, we called every man a "nigger" who had 
the faintest trace of negro blood, though it were but a sixteenth, 
so here all are called Cherokees who have a drop of Cherokee 



358 " WHITE CHEROKEES." 

blood. Tlie phrase " Wliite Cherokee" is generally applied to 
those of less than half" Indian blood. 

One may travel for days in the Territory, and never see a 
i'ull-blood. Nevertheless they are still in the majority, as 
shown by the census. But they live away from the main lines 
of travel, and generally in tiie timber along the streams. I 
heard much of the jealousy between the pure and the mixed 
bloods, but saw no evidences of it. The popular idea is that 
the Indian is being rapidly exterminated, which is incorrect as 
regards the civilized tribes. Absorbed would be a better word. 
It is true, that the pure bloods are certainly not increasing, 
perhaps slightly decreasing; but the amount of Indian blood 
remains, if it does not increase. It is by constant intermarriage 
with whites, that the pure stock lessens in number. 

Among; the "White Cherokees" are some verv curious 
people: pure white to all appearance, but still called Chero- 
kees, and with no recollection of any ancestry outside of the 
tribe. Some of them are supi)osed to be descendants of mis- 
sionaries, who settled in the tribe five or six generations ago; 
and some of white captives taken in their first wars with our 
race, or of children stolen in North Carolina early in the 
eighteenth century. 

The services were conducted in the order of the Baptist 
Church, to which sect the minister belongs, as do a majority 
of the Cherokee Christians. The Moravians, Methodists, and 
Episcopalians number many converts among the other 
Nations, and some among the Cherokees, while the Presby- 
terians are quite numerous among the Delawares and Shaw- 
nees, and farther west. 

The Indians seem to be naturally prone to fatalism, and their 
theology, even when Christian, is of a singularly cold and melan- 
choly character; not so bad, however, as that of the California 
Chinese, which is the most gloomy, chilling, and repellant of all 
ethnic religions, but enough like it to point to a kinship of race. 
The Senecas alone of all the tribes in this vicinity, (they live just 
east of Grand River,) retain their aboriginal heathenism. Sacri- 
fices, incantations, and a separate priesthood are still maintained, 



OK-LA-HO-MA. 359 

and once a year they burn a certain number of dogs to propitiate the 
spirit of evil. That entire tribe numbers but ninety persons, and 
ray host informed me that when last he visited them, they had 
only one child in the tribe. Their decay has been rapid. All 
the more intelligent admit the steady decay of the pure bloods, 
and, though there is a slight increase at present in the Cherokee 
Nation at large, yet in the pure bloods there is a decrease. I 
have only given, thus far, a few points gleaned from my con- 
versation with the "White Cherokees," but our talk at dinner 
assumed a more personal and political turn. Mr. Parks had 
invited some of the older citizens to dine with us, and, as at a 
Sunday dinner in the country districts of Ohio, politics came up 
for discussion. 

" \yhat will you do with us?" was the gist of the first ques- 
tion. " Will the Government give half our lands to railroads, 
and let the whites come in on us to try for the other half?" 

" The Government will not establish a Territory here and 
throw it open to white settlers, unless the Indians are willing ; 
but why are you not willing, if you can have a farm secured 
first to each citizen of the Nation ? " 

"Because our more ignorant people and full-bloods can't live 
with the Yankees settled all among them. Some tell us we 
can't hold our land in common the way we do. Why can't we? 
If we can't, then let it be allotted, so much to each family, and 
the rest common pasturage. These full-blooded Cherokees are 
the most simple minded, honest people in the world. They 
don't know anything about trading or scheming with white 
folks. But you know it is the nature of white peoj)le to be 
grasping. Let them settle here and they would take all advan- 
tage in trades, and the Indians could not live here." 

The principal talker, an aged " White Cherokee," continued 
at some length and in good language to argue against the "Bill 
to establish the Terrritory of Oklahoma," of which he produced 
a copy and read extracts. He related with increasing pathos, 
the principal facts in the history of the Cherokees : their first 
general war with the whites, many years before the Revolution ; 
their removal to the hill country of Georgia, Carolina and Ala- 



360 INDIAN POLITICS. 

baina ; their second move to Arkansas and a band to Texas ; 
their expulsion from all other places and settlement here. As 
he progressed a growing sadness showed on every face. He 
concluded^ and an oppressive silence settled upon the company, 
so profound that I could feel the reproach which seemed thus 
cast upon my Nation. The melancholy gravity natural to the 
Cherokee countenance seemed to deepen to the intensity of a 
fixed despair; young and old had the same solemn quiet, and 
even the rosy little girl bowed her head almost to the table? 
and her sweet sad face seemed shadowed with the wrongs of 
three generations of her race. 

To a question about the wishes of the full bloods, the speaker 
replied : " Well, the full bloods won't take any vigorous action. 
They are an indifferent sort of people. They just say, Let it 
alone. If the United States is a mind to break all treaties and all 
agreements, and break us up and destroy us, they'll do it any- 
how. They can do it, and we arn't able to stop it. General 
Jackson swore by his Maker that this land should be ours 
' while grass grew and water run,' and if they're a mind to 
break that, why they'll have to do it, that's all. That's the way 
the full bloods talk about it, sir. They won't do anything at 
all about it, just wait for it as if it was a storm or a streak of 
lightning;." 

From this and other conversation I found there were three 
distinct parties among the Cherokees : 

First — the Territorial party : in favor of Oklahoma and white 
immigration, after setting apart, in fee simple, a considerable 
farm to each Indian. 

Second — the Ockmulkee Constitution party : in favor of 
sectionizing the land, giving each Indian his farm and the two 
railroads their grant, keeping all the rest in common as it is 
now, and uniting all the tribes under one government of their 
own (the Ockmulkee Constitution), with American citizenship 
and local courts ; but no territorial arrangement and no white 
settlement. 

Third — The party in favor of the present condition. 

On further examination I found that the first party was very 



UP TO KANSAS. 361 

small among all the tribes — or rather Nations — and that the mem- 
bers of it were regarded as ti-aitors to their race; that the third 
party had as yet a large majority of the whole people, but that 
the Ockmulkee Constitution promised most for the Indians, 
and had the support of their most able men. 

After four days in the " Nation," I changed my mind and 
concluded to go northward, and do my railroad traveling while 
early spring was giving way to settled weather; for I found 
March the worst period to travel afoot or on horseback through 
the country. The sloughs are full, the streams are swollen, and 
the prairie roads muddy, though fast drying under the warm 
winds. About April 15th the delightful season begins in that 
section, for the period our Ohio poets celebrate as May lasts 
there from April till the middle or last of May. 

So I took the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Road northward 
for a brief trip into Southern Kansas. From Vinita it is but 
thirty miles to the Kansas border. The country along the way 
bears the same general character as below — gently rolling and 
moderately fertile prairies, with clear but somewhat sluggish 
streams, and occasional clumps of rather inferior timber. Near 
the road, in a small grove, a cabin was pointed out to me where 
the once noted Perry Fuller spent a winter in company with 
the " White Cherokee," Boudinot. Fuller had been engaged 
in some questionable transactions with the Indian ring, and had 
his reasons for wishing to live somewhat secluded for a while. 
Accordingly he and Boudinot stocked this cabin plentifully with 
the Democratic necessaries of life, and spent a few months very 
agreeably there, the place being then comparatively unknown, 
and visited by none but their particular friends. " White 
Cherokees" tell me there are many "tricks that are dark" 
being operated all along the border even to this day. The 
Territory swarms with United States Marshals and deputies, but 
white residents insinuate that nobody is arrested who cares to 
avoid it and is pecuniarily able to do so. 

As we near the edge of Kansas a sudden and surprising 
change occurs. From east to west appears an even line, with 
fence nearly all the way — on the south side an unbroken 



362 SOUTHERN KANSAS. 

})rairie, on the north farms, orchards, nice dwellings and every 
evidence of civilization. If on Fourth Street, Cincinnati, the 
north side should remain as it is and the south side utterly 
vanish, leaving an unbroken plain as far as the eye could reach, 
the change would scarcely be more striking. There is no gentle, 
almost imperceptible fading away from cultivation to wilderness ; 
it is a sudden jump from civilization to nature's wildness, a sight 
every hour presenting powerful arguments in favor of the white 
settlement policy for the "Nation." It is an argument the 
Kansians appreciate, and once over the border I found the 
popular view of the Indian question wonderfully changed. 
There is no casuistry in the Kansian view. They take the high 
ground that that land was put there to be fenced, broke, culti- 
vated and improved; and if the Cherokees will not do it, ''why, 
d — u 'em, the Government ought to let them have it that will 
do it." 

In my tour through Southern Kansas I everywhere observed, 
as I neared the Indian border, the hostility to that people 
steadily increasing. In Allen and the counties north, it took 
the form merely of a mild and rational objection to the neigh- 
borhood of such a people. A little further south, a stern oppo- 
sition to showing any more favor to the race; and along the 
border, an intense, almost fanatical hostility, and an expressed 
desire to " exterminate every red devil of 'em." The borderer 
has no faith whatever in Grant's policy, or any other policy 
looking toward the civilization of the Indian. He is an enthu- 
siastic believer in the theory of " doomed races." 

Old Presbyterians who had lived upon the border here for 
ten or fifteen years, told me they had never seen a Christian 
Indian, had never had a reliable account of one ; that they were 
convinced the natives were a reprobate race, and there never 
was one soundly and truly converted. The testimony of other 
denominations was about the same. The Kansian view con- 
tinues : Why should the Indian be fed, housed and clothed at 
our expense, and at the same time be allowed to roam over an 
empire, keeping white men out of the best portion of the public 
domain ? Why not make them citizens, with the same rights 



KANSAS VS. THE INDIAN. 363 

to take and hold a given piece of land as other citizens? The 
answer, of course, is that when that thing is done the Indian's 
day is also done; he can never stand in competition with his 
white neighbor, and will pass away. The reply comes back : 
If tlie Indian cannot stand on his own personal merit, or with 
any native strength, then he has no right to stand at all; lie 
must go sooner or later anyhow, and the cheapest and most 
merciful way is the best. The neighborhood of the savage is 
an aggravation, and the virtuous Kansian is indignant because 
the occasional Indian will steal, and will not be chaste and 
temperate. The pivotal point of much of this talk is the Indian 
Territory, which the Kansian thinks by far the richest and most 
desirable of all the sections yet within the disposition of the 
Government. 

The people of Kansas have seen altogether too much of that 
region to rest in peace. They have traversed it in the purchase 
of stock; they have driven cattle through it from Texas; they 
have pursued thieves into it, and the universal testimony, as 
given to me, is, "the finest country, sir, God ever made." On 
that country every young Kansian has his eye fixed. Young 
men living on the border already have their quarter-sections 
picked out in the Nation, ready to jump at a moment's notice, 
rush over and take possession. People easily believe what they 
wish, and hence the universal opinion in Southern Kansas is 
that the Indian Territory will be sectionized and thrown open 
to settlement in three years at the farthest. Should such action 
be taken by Congress, then all former excitements in our 
Western settlement would be as nothing compared to the "rush " 
which would take place. At least half a million people, from 
Kansas to Pennsylvania, are waiting for some such chance; for, 
be it remembered, the good land still at the disposal of our 
Government is pretty nearly exhausted. Southwestern Kansas 
and the Indian Territory are the last I know of in this direc- 
tion. East of the mountains the limits of pioneering are rapidly 
narrowing, and men will not settle in the interior valleys, be- 
tween the Black Hills and the Sierras, and irrigate little patches, 
until everv other chance is exhausted. Religious fanaticism 



364 OCKMULKEE OR OCKLAHOMA. 

alone induced the Mormons to colonize the interior while so 
much good land remained east of the mountains. Here is a 
region containing more good land unoccupied than the culti- 
vatible area of Indiana. 

Let Congress pass an enabling act for that Territory, and in 
three months these roads leading southward from Kansas City 
and Lawrence would double their business; in six months it 
would quadruple. Throw open the Territory next January, 
and it would be ready for admission as a State by January, 
1875. There is unoccupied land for a hundred thousand 
homesteads. Settle it with white men, and the lands of South- 
ern Kansas would nearly double in value. During the process 
of settlement, they would have a ready market at their doors 
for all kinds of provisions at high prices. A troublesome 
border question would be settled, and several border towns 
would take a new lease of life from the consequent trade. All 
the public lines through Missouri and Arkansas would largely 
increase their business, and Texas and Louisiana would share 
in the benefits. It will be seen that many powerful interests 
would unite even now in furtherance of the scheme, so many 
that Congress would probably resist but feebly. All the dele- 
gations in the Senate and House from Kansas, Missouri, 
Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas would be enthusiastic in its 
favor, and other border States would join from natural symjia- 
thy. All these railroad interests press strongly in the same 
direction. Thus the proposition would start in Congress, with 
a powerful party, and despite what Eastern members may 
think of the inherent merits of the scheme, or of natural justice 
toward the Indian, I am led to think that the Kansians antici- 
pate rightly, and that the Territory will be open to settlement 
before 1875. These arguments are ever present to Congress- 
men and lobbyists, Avhile the protest of the Indians yearly 
sounds more feeble; and unless the Indian nations can be per- 
suaded to adopt Ockmulkee, they may soon be compelled to 
accept Ocklahoma. 

A little west of the railroad, where the beautiful Arkansas 
Valley widens southward into the Territory, hundreds are 



NEUTRAL STRIP. 



365 



squatted on the border, only waiting to rush over and take 
possession of public lands they have already n^arked out for 
themselves. I think they are mistaken as to the amount of 
good land they will have to select from. Of course, if the 
Territory is thrown open, a liberal allotment will be made for 
each family of Indians, who will have the first pick; and they 
will choose all the land lying along the streams, the best and 
best timbered. The railroads will next secure liberal grants, 
and the general settler will find his choice limited. 

On the border we 
first enter the " neutral 
strip," a large tongue 
of land commencing on 
tlie southwestern cor- 
ner, with a width of 
four or five miles, and 
gradually narrowing 
westward, in the shape 
of a long wedge, be- 
tween the State and 
the " Nation." It was 
caused by some error 
of the surveyors at the 
time the Cherokees 
ceded their Kansas 
lands. It is settled, but 
not yet surveyed, and 
belongs unquestionably 
to the State which 
exercises jurisdiction 
over it. 

Leaving the "str-ip," we enter the town ("city," they call it,) 
of Chetopa, a lively community of some two thousand people, 
the southern line of the city being also the original State line. 
I rest here a day, and find the place red hot with the excite- 
ment of an approaching municipal election. The "Anti-Cor- 
ruptionists" (t. e., those out of office,) are holding meetings 




MOSS AGATES.' 



366 LOCAL POLITICS. 

(lay and night, and have developed evidence of " astounding 
frauds." The " Corruptionists," (those who have run the city 
for the past two years,) point to " magnificent public works." 
The names of Tweed, Hall and Connolly are taken in vain 
every hour of the day, as bases of infamous comparison ; and 
the last issue of the Chetopa Advance shows, by actual figures, 
that "Mayor Fox and his guilty coadjutors have wronged the 
city out of the enormous sum of ten thousand dollars." [Five 
exclamation points.] All the frauds in New York and Cin- 
cinnati are as nothing compared to this! A general meeting 
of the friends of reform, a few evenings before, was invaded by 
the "Corruptionists," a row occurred, pistols were freely dis- 
played, and speakers were driven off the stand. The night of 
my stay J. W. Horner, editor of the Advance, was assaulted 
upon the street by a friend of Mayor Fox, and appeared at our 
table next morning with a beautiful set of " moss agates " (as we 
say in Utah), wearing them, however, upon his eyes instead of 
his shirt. 

It appeared as if "Bleeding Kansas" was about to bleed again 
in the cause of municipal reform. This is the age of investiga- 
tion, and the Reformers of Chetopa had begun vigorously, hav- 
ing, besides their own municipal affairs, lodged indictments 
against most of the Senators and public men of the State. The 
ordinary rule of criminal law appears to have been reversed, 
and Kansas Senators are held to be guilty until they prove 
themselves innocent. 

I made a fiying visit to Lawrence, where I had the good 
fortune to meet Mr. C. G. De Bruler of the Cincinnati Times- 
Chronicle (now of the Evayisville Jownal), on the same mission 
as myself; and together we returned to the Indian country the 
first week in April. 

The "growing season" seemed fairly set in in Southern 
Kansas, fast tinging the prairies with a rich shade of green, 
and flirmers everywhere were busy with the spring crops. We 
stopped for twenty-four hours at Parsons, the terminus of the 
Sedalia Division of the M. K. & T., and, we are positively in- 
formed, "the future metropolis of Southern Kansas," "railroad 



MUSCOGEE. 367 

center," etc. For particulars see land circulars, and the columns 
of the Parsotis Sun. We ran thence down the M. K. & T., 
passed Chetopajust at dark, and by midnight were ninety miles 
from the border at the new town of Muscogee, then the ter- 
minus of the passenger division, though the road was com- 
pleted to Canadian River. 

I opened my eyes next morning upon a long, straggling, 
miserable railroad town, the exact image of a Union Pacific 
"city," in the last stages of decay. Some two hundred yards 
from the railroad a single street extended for nearly a quarter 
of a mile ; the buildings were rude shanties, frame and canvas 
tents and log cabins, open to the wind, which blew a hurricane 
for the thirty-six hours I was there. If Mr. Lo, " the poor 
Indian," does in fact "see God in the clouds and hear Him in 
the wind," as the poet tells us, he has a simple and benign 
creed which gives him an audible and ever-present deity in 
this country, for the wind is constant and of a character to pre- 
vent forgetfulness. The weather is mild and pleasant enough, 
but walking against the wind is very laborious, and the howl- 
ing so constant as to make conversation difficult inside a tent. 
I have observed in my travels that windy countries are gener- 
ally healthful, but a different report is given here. They say 
bilious diseases of all kinds prevail, and complain particularly 
of fever, ague and pneumonia. 

We ate in the " Pioneer boarding car," and slept in another 
car attached ; five of them being placed on a side track, 
anchored down and converted into a pretty good hotel. Here 
and about the depot were the citizens employed on the road. 
Of the town proper, a majority of the citizens were negroes, 
with them a few whites of doubtful "rep.," and perhaps a 
dozen Indians. The negroes were formerly slaves to the 
Indians, but slavery here was never severe, and they are little 
more their own masters than before. They earned a precarious 
subsistence, the M'omen by washing and the men by teaming 
and chopping, and were all sunk deep, deep in poverty and 
ignorance. All day the wenches were strolling about in groups, 
bareheaded, barefooted, half naked, stupid-looking, ragged and 



368 MUSCOKEE. 

destitute. Here, as at Vinita, I saw no farms, no signs of cul- 
tivation. The Indians live off the railroad, in the timber, and 
along the streams. On the road is no enterprise, no improve- 
ment, no trade of account that I can see. Three grocery stores, 
a tobacco shop and a few meat markets completed the town. 
The rest were cabins, filled with greasy wenches and lounging 
bucks. Around the town, far as the eye can reach, extend 
fertile prairies of a rich green, rivalii>g Ohio meadows in May, 
while five miles northeast a heavy line of timber marks the- 
course of the Arkansas. 

Muscokee, or, if spelled as jironounced, Jlooskokee, is the 
aboriginal name for the tribe we call Creeks, and having 
decided to thoroughly inspect these Indian sovereignties, and 
their relations to each other and the General Government, we 
bcirin with these. 



CHAPTER XX 



MUSCOKEE. 




Desperadoes — Laxity of Government — Out to the Agency — Stirring up a rattler 
— " A free nigger settlement " — Creek History — Tallahassee Mission— Delight- 
ful experiences — Creek education — System of government — Back to Muscogee 
— Reckless shooting — State of the region. 

'^ "^[RAD. COLLINS is on a big spree, ain't he?" 
" You bet he's a chargin'." 
" Killed anybody yet ? " 

" No, only had one fuss. Him and two other Chero- 
kees went into the car last night with cocked six- 
shooters, and scared some Eastern fellers dirned near to death." 

"Mind the time he shot that ar marshal?" 

"I reckon ! killed him right in front of this car. Shot at 
him twice afore. Fetched him dead that time. Then come in 
next day and give himself up. Tuck him down to Fort Smith, 
and turned him loose in a little while. Lord, that Court don't 
amount to nothin'. Anybody 'at's got money can git away 
thar." 

" Marshal's got a good thing, though." 

" I see you ; best place to make money in the United States. 
These Deputies are the biggest rascals in the country. That 
Court is a disgrace to the American people, and '11 ruin us here 
yet." 

Such is a small part of the conversation we heard our second 
morning at the table of the dining-car in Muscogee. It was 
anything but encouraging to a man of peaceful proclivities. A 
few days after, I had my first view of this somewhat notorious 
Bradley Collins. I was sitting in the tent of an old Cherokee 
woman in Muscogee, listening to her account of the expulsion 
24 369 



BEAD. COLLIXS. 



V 




AMUSEMENTS AT MUSCOGEE. 



from the " old Nation in Geawgey," when shots were heard not 
far off, and an athletic, rosy-featured young man came running 
])V the tent door with a pistol in his hand. The old woman 
merely said, " Bradley's got his shooter ; there's a fuss some'ers," 
ami M'ent out for a look. It proved to be nothing but some 
freed men practicing on a stray hog, a wanderer frotn the Creek 
farms, which they brought down after a dozen shots! Collins 
■walked back with a marked air of disappointment, muttering: 
" If I couldn't hit a hog first shot, I'd throw away my pistol ;" 
and the old lady entertained me with his history, which has 
since been more than verified by others. He is nearly white, 
Jin outcast from the Cherokee Nation, a smuggler of whisky, a 
de-perado, and a dead shot. It is said that he has been known 



CHEROKEE ROUGHS. 371 

to throw a pistol in the air, causing it to make half a dozen 
turns, catch it as it fell, bring it instantly to a level, and strike 
an apple at thirty paces. He is re[)orted "so quick on trigger," 
that all the other "shootists" in the country have an awe of 
him. He is known to have killed three men, and was then 
under bond of one thousand dollars to appear at the May term 
of the Federal Court in Fort Smith, for shooting at a United 
States Marshal with intent to kill. Many excuse him in the 
case where he actually killed a Marshal, as it was a private 
quarrel, in which both had sworn to "shoot on sight." Asso- 
ciated with him were a dozen or more young " White Cherokees," 
who were sus})ected of being robbers, and known to be drunk- 
ards and gamblers. A dozen such men can do the cause of 
Cherokee independence and nationality more harm than all the 
Rosses and Downings and their able compeers can do it good. 
But we must take all we hear on the railroad with this impor- 
tant qualification : It is the interest and policy of these railroads 
to belittle the Cherokee government, and make its officers 
appear as inefficient, and its few criminals as desperate and 
dangerous, as possible. And the roads themselves have added 
a vast amount of evidence in favor of their indictments against 
the Indian governments. The records are simply horrible. 
During the few weeks that the terminus and stage offices were 
at Muscogee and Gibson, sixteen murders were committed at 
these two places, and in a very short time five more were killed 
at the next terminus. One man was shot all to pieces just in 
front of the dining-car at Muscogee, and another had his throat 
cut at night, almost in the middle of the town. It is true, 
strangers, travelers and outsiders are rarely if ever troubled. 
These murders are upon their own class, and new-comers who 
are weak enough to mix in, drink and gamble with them. But 
a few days before our arrival a Texan reached Canadian Station 
with the proceeds of a cattle sale. He met these fellows at 
night, was seen at 10 o'clock with them, drunk and generous 
with his money; a few days after his body was washed ashore 
some miles down the Canadian. And yet I am assured, and I 
believe it, a man with a legitimate business, and who will let 



372 START FOR THE AGENCY. 

whisky alone, can travel through this country as safely as in 
Cincinnati. Tlie better class ol'Oherokees regard these railroad 
towns with perfect horror, and are never seen about them. 
These young desperadoes are permitted to enter the Creek 
nation, but not the Choctaw. Tlie latter complain that the 
Creeks can only execute their law with their own people. The 
Cherokees, when one of their young men begins to lounge about 
the railroad towns, give him up as an outcast, or consider him 
the same as dead. OJthe road, in their country, all was peace 
and quiet; on the road, gambling, rioting and death. 

The night "Brick" Pomeroy reached Muscogee three men 
were shot dead. Brick walked from the train to the dining- 
car, and spent the night; walked thence to the earliest morning 
train and left the Territory. The railroad men tell rather 
amusing stories of the way he '^saw the country." 

After two days at this lively town, we concluded we had 
better see the Creeks at home, and started afoot for the Agency, 
traveling over a beautiful, rich prairie, gently rolling, rising 
from the river into long ridges, which occasionally terminated 
in sharp bluff's, crowned with pretty groves. The prospect was 
delightful by nature, and was not a little enlivened by scattered 
herds of cattle cropping the rich green herbage. 

In tiie balmy air, and with the fair prosjiect before us, wo 
had quite forgotten tlie sort of country we were in, Mhcn a sight 
of some gliding creature in the road brought us to a halt, and on 
the instant a sudden whir-r-r-h-r-a-a-h and a sharp hiss caused 
the two Bohemians to execute a double step backward, M'hich 
would have done credit to. a stage gymnast. While we stood 
in doubtful expectation (fifty feef off), the reptile curled his 
shining folds into a circle about the width of a peck measure, 
and raised a head which said as plain as words, ^^ Noll me 
tangere." He was of a pale j)urple color, with beautifully flow- 
ered spots of steel gray running in spirals from head to tail, 
which, as he moved in the bright sunshine, glistened in a 
manner that would have been beautiful in anything but a rattle- 
snake. We knew hira by his popular description, for the prin- 
cipal amusement of the old settlers had been to tell us what 



QUEER CREATURES. 



373 



liintl of "insects" we should eneounter in the couutrv, assurintr 
us, "on the honor of a man, sir," that their ordinary jump was 
twenty feet, and their bite certain death. I remembered, how- 
ever, enougii of my boyhood experience in the " breaks" of the 
Wabash to know tliat a rattlesnake could only jump his length, 
and that we were reasonably safe at fifty feet. So we took 
observations, and being satisfied that his serpentship had a pre- 
emption right (there wasn't a stick or stone in a mile), we took 
a wide detour and trav- 
eled on. Wesatdownby ^ 
a streasu to rest, and out 
of the dead grass there 
crawled, or rather rab- 
bled, a something which 
we could not classify. 
It was about the size 
and color of a small 
Easter egg, with a pleas- 
ing variety of legs and 
bristles, and appeared 
to walk sideways and 
backward with ease. 
It might be a tarantula, 
and it might not ; we 
did not know. We 
went away from there 
also. We were study- 
ing Indians this time, 
and not natural his- 
tory. 

Two hours brisk walking brought us into a settled and jiartly 
cultivated country, a region of rude log cabins and gaunt farm 
stock, where black faces peered at us through the cracks of 
"worm fences," and occasional "free nigger" patches showed 
something like civilization. A colored girl replied in answer 
to our queries, " Agency over thar," and a mile further brought 
us to a beautiful grove, in which was an irregular square of 




RAISING A NATIVE. 



374 BLACK CREEKS. 

log cabins, inclmliiig some three or four acres. AYe saw no 
si'ons of Government buildinus, and but one neat, commodious 
house. There we were directed to a double-h)g building, cor- 
responding to those of the poorest farmers in Indiana, some 
distance from the square in a field, and that we found to be the 
Agency. Here we were welcomed by Major J. G. Vore and 
his assistant, Mr. A. S. Purinton, who have charge of the place 
during the absence at Washington of the Agent, Major Lyon. 
Major Vore has been in this country, and among the Indians 
of Texas and New Mexico, for twenty-seven years, and is a 
walking encyclopedia of aboriginal history. To him we are 
indebted for many courtesies and facilities in obtaining informa- 
tion. 

This settlement has the general appearance of an abandoned 
camp-meeting ground in the backwoods of Ohio, and is in- 
habited almost entirely by negroes, who have literally invaded 
the Agency. A continuous line of settlements and farms, or 
rather " patches," extends ten miles along tlie xlrkansas, with a 
population of about a thousand negroes and perhaps a hundred 
Creeks. The soil in this vicinity is of inexhaustible fertility.' 
I walked through fields of lately planted corn, and in the 
patches of thriving vegetables, and noted everywhere a loose 
and active soil, as black, as rich, and as easily cultivated as any 
part of tiie Wabash " bottoms." None but the poorest and 
lowest of the Creeks will live among these freed men, and on 
this beautiful and fertile tract, capable of producing in amazing 
quantities all the fruits and grains of the temperate zone, a 
thousand or two of these creatures live in dirt, ignorance and 
abject poverty, barely one remove from actual starvation. To 
go from this " free-nigger settlement" to a town of pure Creeks, 
as I did, seems like emerging from barbarism to enlightenment, 
for my opinion of the Creeks has been considerably raised since 
I have seen them at home. The appearance and conversation of 
the pure Creeks — above all, the practical results they are able 
to show — are calculated to give one high hopes of the race, and 
of the results of the present polic3\ Tliey are quite different 
in appearance from the Cherokees — stouter, but not so elegant ; 



CEEEK HISTORY, 



37-3 




AT THE CREEK AGENCY. 



sliorter, broader, and rather darker; without the high cheek 
hones and solemn gravity of tlie others, and with a more 
cheerful and kindly expression. The white traders say they 
are more industrious than the Cherokees, but less intelligent. 
The history of the Muscokee or Creek nation is like an 
aboriginal romance. There is a consistency, directness and air 
of history about their traditions, which is seldom found in sav- 
age histories. They begin at a period many generations before 
the coming of' the whites. They then occupied a region far 
west of the Mississippi — somewhere in Northern Texas, they 
think — from which they slowly moved eastward as a nation of 
predatory warriors. After crossing the Arkansas, they heard 
of a people north of them leading the same life, speaking the 



376 CREEK HISTORY, 

same language and using the same medicines and war-whoop. 
Embassadors were sent, the two tribes met, and, though their 
kinship could not be traced, they formally united, and, ever 
since, the two divisions have been known as Upper and Lower 
Creeks. 

The combined tribes moved eastward and attacked a nation 
afterward known as the Alabamas, then living on the western 
bank of the Mississippi. After a long and bloody contest the 
Alabamas were driven northward, and the Muscokees took pos- 
session of their towns. Many years after, they heard of the 
Alabamas, went after them and again defeated them, the latter 
this time crossing the Mississippi and settling somewhere between 
that and the Ohio. The next generation of Creeks renewed the 
war, crossed the Mississippi and again drove the Alabamas, who 
traveled a whole season toward the south, and settled in what 
is now probably the State of Mississippi. The Creeks also 
turned toward the south, and in the next generation ^igain came 
upon the Alabamas, and destroyed all but a remnant, who fled 
eastward and settled in a valley in the present State of Alabama. 
Learning that their hereditary enemies were again upon the 
move, they sent a deputation and sued for peace. The Creeks 
had from time immemorial pursued a policy of absorption 
similar to that of the ancient Romans. ^Vhen they met a 
strange people, the first move Mas war. If the attacked fought 
desperately and were only conquered after a long struggle, the 
victors pronounced them worthy to be Muscokees, and adopted 
the remnant into their tribe. They now adopted the Alabamas, 
who maintain a separate race and language in the Creek Nation 
to this day. 

They slowly moved eastward, and there for the first time 
came into conflict with the Cherokees, who dominated the entire 
liill country of Southeast Tennessee, Western North Carolina, 
and Northern Georgia and Alabama. A long and bloody war 
followed. The Cherokees on their own ground, among the 
mountains, invariably defeated the Muscokees, and were defeated 
M'hen they ventured into the country of the latter. Tlie Creeks 
could neither conquer nor absorb the Cherokees, so a lasting peace 



THE CREEK TROUBLES. 377 

was made, wbich has never been broken; they agreed to be 
"friends and brothers for ever," and to the Cherokee was 
granted the right of "elder brother in couneil," Tliis seniority 
is acknowledged in general council now. The various tribes 
are considered as ranking in a peculiar order of relationship. 
The Delaware is considered the grandfather of all ; the Creeks, 
Chickasaws, and some other southern tribes, as younger brother 
to the Cherokee, while the Choctaw is considered " the son of a 
younger brother." What became of his father the old Creeks 
were unable to inform me. 

From this point the historical account of the Creeks, as con- 
nected with the whites, begins. Traders penetrating their 
country from Pensacola named it, from the number of streams, 
the Creek Country, and gave the Muscokee Nation the title of 
Creek Confederacy. In the war of 1812 a portion joined the 
British, most of whom were driven away from the tribe into 
Florida. For many years all the dissatisfied or turbulent ran 
away and joined these exiles, to whom the Creeks gave the 
name of Seminole (Say-mee-no-lay), meaning "wild," or "out- 
cast." The whites, meanwhile, crowded upon the Creeks, who 
assigned most of their land by the treaty of 1832, and had the 
remainder allotted in farms, one to each male Indian. The 
most outrageous frauds were then perpetrated upon these indi- 
vidual holders, who had expressed their wish to cultivate the 
land and live after the manner of the whites. Transferring 
Agents were appointed by the Government to see that no Indian 
parted with the title to his land through ignorance, as they 
always refused to sell or do more than lease. But the swindlers 
employed half-breeds or renegade Indians to personate the 
actual owner and sign the deeds before the Agent. Hundreds 
of men had their lands sold who knew nothin"- of the trans- 
action until called uj)on to give possession to some third party 
who had purchased of the swindler. The buyers called upon 
the Government to put them in possession of their lands; part 
of the Creeks rose in revolt, the militia was called out and a 
general war threatened. Some of the men thus dispossessed 
were brought to this country in chains. Many Creeks volun- 



378 ON THE ARKANSAS. 

teered to help put clown the troubles, believing that justice 
Mould be done. But in most cases it was not, and old citi- 
zens of the Nation now have title to Alabama lands anil legal 
proof that they have never sold them. The entire tribe then 
agreed to sell, but were removed l)efore they had time to do so, 
and some lands there are yet unsold to wliich the Indian title 
is acknowledtjced fjood. A considerable tract which had been 
set apart " for orphans of the Creek Nation too young to 
make selection," had been covered by white squatters; but the 
Government paid them for it, and the money was invested as 
" Indian Trust Funds." 

A few Creeks arrived here in 1825; the main body came in 
1836 and 1837. About the year 1807 a small band had gone 
to Texas, and were so harassed by the Texan Government that 
in 1840 and 1842 they came here. A small portion still remain 
in Florida and Alabama, whom the Creek Nation are negotiat- 
ing with, to induce them to remove here. 

So much by way of history, from the records and accounts of 
old Creeks at the Agency. But we had not seen the best part 
of the Nation, and determined on a visit to Tallahassee Mission 
School — a sort of college of the Muscokees. It is situated a 
few miles north of the Arkansas, on the high point between that 
stream and the Verdigris, and leaving the Agency at 3 p. M. 
on Saturday, we struck down the hill and into the forest which 
skirts the Arkansas. Tiie river was nearly a mile wide, but 
all, except a channel of some three hundred yards in width, was 
quite shallow, and the whole stream running thickly with red 
mud. No one was in sight where the trail struck the river, 
but on the opposite shore we made out something which might 
be a ferry-flat; so the two correspondents jointly lifted up their 
voices and shouted, "Hallo-o-o! the boat!" for about the 
space of half an hour. One man appeared, took his seat in the 
boat and seemed to go to sleep. We shouted another space, and 
two more men took the boat, which one of them poled across. 
Meanwhile the sky was suddenly overcast with clouds, and by 
the time we were conducted by the ferryman to a small hut in 
the thicket, a furious thunderstorm broke upon us. The two 



OYER THE RIVER. 



379 




negroes walked on to the settlenie«it without rogaril to the rain, 
and left us with the Creek ferryman, who, we luarn, had S[)ent 
all his life there, and yet could not speak a word of English ! 
A bright Creek negro soon arrived, and tlie two carried on a 
sort of conversation in subdued gutturals, which Mr. DeBruler 
decided was a discussion in regard to the approaching Cincin- 
nati Convention, but it was all Creek to me. The negro in- 
formed us that he was , _^ , =--- 

a Creek slave " afoh 
de wall ; run away and 
went off den, which I 
larnt Ingliss, sah." So 
he acted as interpreter, j ^^fe^ 
and in an hour of severe 
exertion we succeeded 
in extracting half a fe 
dozen remarks from the 
determinedly reticent 
Creek. The storm pas 
sed, and we were set 
across the river, for 
which Charon the Silent 
demanded ''pahly-hok- 
kohlen hoonunvy — 
paidy osten " — rendered 
by our colored linguist 
to mean ''twenty cents 
a man — forty cents all." 
This we disbursed, and 

footed it across the bottom over a road rendered very toilsome 
by the rain. At dark, splashed and weary, we reached the 
Mission, which is beautifully situated in an open grove, appear- 
ing to us a very haven of rest — fitting emblem of the faith and 
hope which planted it in this wilderness. From the scamper- 
ing of little Creeks in the twilight, we judged our arrival had 
created something of a sensation, and afterward learned the 
children had mistaken us for new preachers, often looked for. 




A CREEK CHARON. 



380 AT THE MISSION. 

Such a mistake is excusabl* in Iiulian children. AVe were 
cordially received and entertained by the Superintendent, Rev. 
W. S. Robertson, and family, which consists of himself and 
Avife, two daughters, accomplished young ladies, and two small 
boys. Five of the oldest teachers had left within a few months, 
and Mr. Graham and lady were to leave in a few days, leaving 
the entire care of the Mission to Mr. Robertson and family. 
These changes were caused by diiferences as to management, 
both among the Creeks and the teachers ; and sad as such a 
result is, it was much to be feared that the institution would 
close with that year. 

The building is a hundred and twenty-five feet long, with 
tliree stories ; the lower for dining halls and residences for 
teachers, the middle for recitation rooms, the upper for sleeping 
apartments. Complete sei)aration of the sexes is the rule; they 
do not even recite together, and never meet, except at meals 
and in the presence of the teachers. - There is room, and the 
contract is made with the Creek Nation, for forty boys and 
forty girls; but only seventy scholars were present, ten having 
been lately expelled for violation of the rules. The building 
appears very old and dilapidated. It was erected in 1848, but 
badly damaged during the Avar, having been used part of the 
time as a hosjwtal, and afterwards ibr a stable. 

The Mission was set in working order by 1849, and did 
more than any other agency towards the rapid advancement of 
the Creeks for the ten years before the war. It was founded 
by the agents of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions, 
who made an equitable contract with the Legislature and 
Supreme Court of the Crt^ek Nation. The Nation appropriated 
one-third of the cost, the United States Government one-third, 
and the Presbyterian Board one-third. The Board selects the 
teachers and pays their salaries, and attends generally to the 
intellectual and moral department of the school ; the Creeks 
pay the expenses and attend to the material wants. For some 
years past they have appropriated six thousand dollars per year, 
but it has proved insufficient. The Nation chooses five Trus- 
tees who, in conjunction with the Superintendent of Public 



DISCIPLINE OF THE SCHOOL. 381 

Instruction for the Nation, manage all the affairs of the institu- 
tion, and select from each of the forty Creek towns one boy and 
girl as scholars. Many of those who graduated here before the 
war are now the chief men of the Nation, and three of its five 
Trustees were once scholars in the Mission. The rules adopted 
by these Trustees are quite rigid ; in particular, I venture to 
suggest that the provision forbidding the sexes to recite to- 
gether, or meet in common literary exercises, is exceptionally 
severe, and according to my obervation in the Western States, 
impolitic. 

Incalculable have been the advantages of this Mission to the 
Creeks. Every year it sends out a graduating class, who scat- 
ter through the Nation, building up local schools, inciting a 
spirit of improvement, and rapidly elevating the intellectual 
tone of the people. I cannot repress a feeling of sadness at the 
thought that it may soon cease to exist. For twenty-three 
years — ever since 1849, with the exception of the war period — 
Mr. Robertson and ids devoted family have labored for the 
good of these people. He begins to see rich fruits on every 
hand. His former scholars are guiding the councils of the 
Creek Nation, teaching in her schools, and laboring at Wash- 
ington City to avert the ruin threatened by the acts of a few 
traitors. And should this Mission have to appeal to its denom- 
inational friends in the States, I ask for them a favorable hear- 
ing : and surely no enlightened Presbyterian but must feel a 
pride in this fountain of light in what so lately was all dark- 
ness, or hesitate to extend aid to the work of these brethren 
who have made themselves voluntary exiles "for Christ's 
sake." 

Supper was called soon after our arrival; we took "visitors' 
chairs," and watched with much interest the orderly incoming 
of seventy young Creeks, of every age from eight to twenty-two. 
Nearly all were pure bloods, and the whole scene was a revela- 
tion to me. I had seen the savage painted Indian, and the 
miserable vagabond on the white frontier; but the civilized, 
scholarly Indian boy and girl presented a new sight. Supper 
overj a chapter was read and the school united in prayers and 



382 



LAXGUAGES. 




AT THE MISSION. 



a devotional liymn. Then we were invited to hear classes, 
who volunteered an evening recitation for our benefit. Their 
natural talent is surprising, particularly in drawing and figures. 
Every Creek boy seems to know tiie law of outline by instinct. 
As the affair assumed a rather social turn, the lads exhibited 
several beautiful specimens of their skill. The class in denom- 
inate numbers, lads of fifteen or sixteen, particularly excelled in 
rapid calculation. At reading they are not so apt. Few of 
them speak English on arrival; they must be taught it. Thus 
thev have the labor of acquiring one language before their edu- 
cation fairly begins. The Creeks have absorbed many tribes in 
their wars, and no less than five distinct races maintain sepa- 
rate towns and languages at this time. These are the Uchces, 



A CREEK SOCIABLE. 383 

Tsateliees, Hitchitccs, Alabamas and Creeks i)ropei', — all repre- 
sented in til is school. A Uchee or Alabama can no more 
understand Creek than he can English ; lie learns that lan- 
guage here by association with other boys, and tinis he must 
acquire two tongues in the Mission. Think of an Ohio boy 
liaving to learn two languages before his education proper be- 
gins. When the institution first started, this difficulty was much 
greater; now all the older scholars speaking English or Creek 
indiiferently, the beginners pick it up rapidly. Like the com- 
mon school system of our own people, this school tends to 
break down tribal ])rcjudiee and make the people homogeneous. 
Two Uchee boys, of the reading class, conversed awhile in 
that language at my request. It is entirely devoid of labials; 
for five minutes they touched the lips together but once. It 
also rarely requires the dentals; and thus to a Uchee it is 
almost impossible to distinguish between 6 and j), d and t, or a 
and e. This inability produces most ludicrous results in spell- 
ing. Pronouncing the words to be spelled orally, the teacher 
cannot possibly determine in the quick sound whether the spell- 
ing is correct or not, that is, with Uchee beginners. But when 
they come to write it on the slate bat becomes p-e-^, hat h-e-d, 
had b-e-t, and so on. 

Two bright Alabama boys were introduced who rejoiced in 
the names of Tecumseh Tiger, and Commodore Mcintosh, and 
gave us illustrations of their native tongue, though both spoke 
English fluently. Noting some sounds I thought similar to the 
Greek, I asked the boys to observe some poetry I would recite, 
and see if they recognized any of the words, or any sound. I 
then repeated the first ten lines o ' the Iliad, and the boys 
promptly pronounced it Cherokee! They had heard the lan- 
guage often, they said, but did not understand it. On being 
told it was Greek, and being unable to distinguish between the 
(r and C, they re|)lied, " No Creek ; must be Cherokee." 

My attempt at comparative philology was not a success. Mean- 
while many of the girls had sent in a request "to see their 
brothers and cousins." They were admitted as well as a num- 
ber of boys, and we had a regular Creek sociable. Some of the 



384 CEEEK SONGS. 

scholars retain tlieir Muscokee names, others adopt the English 
ones of a friend or teacher, and still others simply translate the 
Muscokee name into English. Of the last class, I was intro- 
duced to Thomas Deer, Eli Tiger, Nancy Postoak and Susan 
Berryhill. 

The Creeks are lively and affectionate, and yet their original 
lano:uao:e does not C(jntain a sinujle term of endearment ! What 
a rascally poor language to make love in. Many have lately 
been literally translated from the English. I wisli the reader 
could hear the rendering of the word "sweet-heart." Each of 
these words is long in the Creek, and combine literally but 
reversed, making it " heart-sweet," about eight syllables in all. 
Think of murmuring such a jawbreaker into a maiden's ear by 
moonlight. 

Mrs. liobertson and her daughters speak the Creek fluently, 
and represent it as difficult to learn. Its grammatical structure is 
perfect. 

Never did I spend a more delightful Sabbath than this at the 
Mission. The Sunday-school was worth coming a thousand 
miles to witness. Seventy Creeks, bright lads and really hand- 
some girls, mingled their clear voices in sacred songs, led by 
Miss A. A. Robertson, with a finely toned organ, alternating 
Creek and English songs. All sang in the Creek, but not more 
than half in the English. Our alphabet has been adapted to the 
Creek by Mr. Robertson and an interpreter, and a series of 
books printed. On this plan tlie Creek hymn book is composed. 
All our familiar tunes are there set to Ceeek words, in a rather 
free translation of the original. My musical talent is small, but 
I felt all the enthusiasm of the occasion when the whole school 
(seventy sweet voices mingled) took up the air: "Shall we gather 
at the river, where bright angels' feet have trod." The words in 
Creek look anything but beautiful. Here they are, first verse: 

BEAUTIFUL RIVER. 

Uerakkon teheceyvr haks 
Cesvs em estolke fullan 
Cesvs liket a fihaet os 
Hoyayvket iihnet os. 



KO-COK-NE EM-BO-PE. 



385 



CHORUS — Momos mon teheceyvres 

Uerakko herusen escherusen 
Mekusapvlken etohkv liket 
Fulleye munkv tares. 

C is pronounced as ch in ckild, e as i in jnn, v as short u ; y 
between two vowels unites with the preceding one to form a 
diphthong, and with the latter is pronounced as y; a is pronounced 
ah as in father, and all other letters as in English. 

Our interest pleased 
the young Muscokees 
so much that they be- 
stowed honorary Creek 
names on both of us. 
Mr. De Bruler, at their 
request, gave specimens 
of short-hand writing, 
using those words in ex- 
planation; for tins he 
Avas named Ko-eoh-ne 
Ein-bo-pe,\hGYi.i\\y trans- ' 
luted, "Shorthandle." 

The recitations would 
average well in a white ' 
scliool, but the effect of \^^ 
the singing, above all || 
the novelty of the situa- A 
tion, left me with little |^^^'j\J 
of the critical sj)irit. 
And one hundred years 
ago the ancestors of 

these children were offering fruits to the sun, and stroking their 
faces to the moon, propitiating the spirit of evil with bloody 
sacrifices, dressing in skins, scalping their enemies, and waginjj 
merciless war from the borders of the Tennessee to the banks 
of Bayou Sara. Cnn the Indian be civilized? In view of 
the rapid progress of the Creek Nation since the miserable 
policy of cheating was abandoned and the Christian policy 
2.5 




SHORTHANDLE. 



386 DISTINGUISHED CREEKS. 

adopted, may not the lininaiiitarians vary tlie question, and 
with confidence ask: Can not the Indian be civilized, and Chris- 
tianized too? 

After two delightful days at the Mission, we continued our 
wanderings in the Creek country with an improved opinion of 
the people. When we learned of the Indians from white men 
and freedmen, or at the railroad towns we were discouraged; 
when we visited them at their homes, we thought their condi- 
tion more hopeful. 

We have met but two of their leading men : Chicota, their 
principal chief, and John M. Moore, of the late delegation to 
Washington. 

The Creek country is in the form of an irregular triangle, 
making a long point eastward, and lying between the Arkansas 
and Main Canadian rivers, and extends westward nearly to 
longitude 97°. From east to west its greatest length is one 
hundred miles, and its western border, which is the only boun- 
dary forming; a nVht line, measures about the same. Takins: 
into account the winding of the rivers I estimate its area at six 
thousand square miles; the authorities at 3,7(:0,000 acres. Of 
this area about one-third is barren, or comjiaratively so, consist- 
ing of spurs from the west mountains and sand ridges. The 
remainder is for the most part exceedingly well watered and 
fertile. The population consists of ten thousand Creeks and 
four thousand freedmen, a ])roportion slightly over two to the 
square mile, making this by far the most populous of any part 
of the Indian Territory. It is considerably more than twice as 
thickly settled as the Choctaw country, and nearly three times 
that of the Cherokee ; but the long western strip of the latter 
greatly reduces its average. On this soil we see every kind of 
vegetable in rapid growth, and increasing quantities of stock, 
thriving on the natural productions of the earth; while almost 
every Creek dwelling is the center of a beautiful grove of fruit 
trees, at this delightful season green with springing leaves or 
Avhite and red with peach and apple blossoms, and redolent with 
the sweet scents of advancing spring. But when winter destroys 
this natural beauty, I suspect the scene is dreary, for little has 



AN INDIAN REPUBLIC. 387 

yet been done in the shrubbery line, and neat as most of the 
log-houses are, they would look bare and mean alone. 

The governmont of the Creek Nation is republican in form, 
but with our notions we should call it an elective monarchy. 
For though nominally any one may be elected to the highest 
office, yet really they seem to be confined to a few families. Tiie 
entire "Constitution and laws" are printed in a small pamphlet, 
which would make about ten pages of this volume. The Crimi- 
nal Code, definitions and all, consists of seven sections of from 
three to five lines each, covering two-thirds of one i)age. 

The law-making power is vested in a House of Kings and 
a House of Warriore: the members of each are elected for 
four years, by general vote of ail the male Creeks over eighteen 
years of age. Each of the forty towns sends one member to the 
House of Kings; each town one to the Plouse of Warriors, and 
an additional member for each two hundred citizens. The 
Kings elect their owai President, the Warriors their own 
Speaker-in-Council ; each house elects its own interpreter, and 
all speeches made in English are forthwith rendered aloud into 
Creek, and vice versa. The records are kept in English. 

The Executive of the Nation is styled the Principal Chief, his 
Vice the Second Chief; they also are elected for four years each, 
and thus the entire Government is liable to a complete change at 
each election. The judiciary begins M'itli the High Court, Avhich 
consists of five persons, chosen by the Council, for four years. 
They have original jurisdiction in all cases involving over one 
lumdred dollars, and appellate jurisdiction from lower courts hi 
criminal matters. The Nation is divided into six districts, in 
each of which a judge is elected by the qualified voters; they 
have jurisdiction of all cases involving sums under one 
himdred dollars, and local criminal jurisdiction. Of course, 
with such a brief and simple Criminal Code, there is much left 
to the discretion of the Judge, and as far as a white man can see, 
he seems to have almost absolute power. The death penalty is 
often inflicted. Each district elects a " light horse company," 
consisting of one lieutenant and four ]irivates; these act as 
sheriff and deputies under orders of the District Courts, and are 



388 SEVERE LAWS. 

subject to a general call from the principal chief to execute the 
mandates of the High Court, or suppress extensive disorders. In 
hundreds of instances these light-horse companies and the Dis- 
trict Judge simply make the law as they go, calling Court on 
each particular case, following the statute if there is one, and if 
not, assigning such penalty as in their judgment fits the case. 
The laws are singularly plain and unambiguous. No space i3 
wasted in definitions, it being taken for granted, apparently, 
that everybody knows the meaning of such terms as " steal " and 
" murder." 

Section 4 of tlie Criminal Code reads: " 5e it enacted, That 
sliould any person or persons be guilty of« rape, he shall for the 
first offence receive fifty lashes ; for the second offence he shall 
suffer death." This crime is now very rare^ or, the Creeks tell 
me, entirely unknown. I should say it was entirely unneces- 
sary. The Creek women are of good average repute for chastity, 
but the freedwomen are quite the reverse, and with them asso- 
ciate a few of the baser sort of Creek girls. Section 5 reads : 
"Be It enacted, That should any person or persons be guilty of 
stealing, for the first offence he shall receive fifty lashes; for the 
second offence one hundred lashes, and for the third offence ho 
shall suffer death." This penalty is by shooting, irrespective 
of the amount stolen, and is often inflicted. Women M'ho 
attempt or assist at infanticide or abortion, receive publicly fifty 
lashes on the bare back. This crime, formerly common, is now 
almost or quite unknown. A healthy pride of increase and 
nationality has taken root in the Nation, and before the war 
the Creeks were increasing about as fast as white communities 
of the same size. Their progress from 1850 to 1861 was un- 
precedented. All their rude shanties or wigwams disaj)peared 
and were replaced by neat and comfortable frame and log 
houses; their old wooden plows were discarded, and most of 
them became good farmers. They were rich in fruit and hogs. 
The war came and ruined them. Only within the ]>ast four 
vears have they again been sensibly improving. The Nation 
now has thirty-one common schools, mostly taught by native 
teachers, and three High Schools or Missions. These last are 



INDIAN DOCTORING. 



389 



managed respectiv*ely by the Baptist, Presbyterian, and Metho- 
dist Church South. Somethino; over a thousand Creeks belons: 
to these three churches, and the majority of the Nation attend 
church more or less. But the natural tendency of their minds 
is towards a kind of fatalism. Such and such things are des- 
tined for each individual, but may sometimes be averted by 
certain rites or duties performed. They use Avhite men's medi- 
cines for all ills except the bites of poisonous reptiles and 
insects. For these they rely entirely on Indian conjurors, who 
never fail to effect a 
cure. This is a singu- 
lar statement, but the 
testimony is uniform; 
there is not a dissen ting- 
statement from white, 
black or red. The 
country abounds in rat- ^^ 
tlesnakes ; many men of 
undoubted intelligence p 
and without supersti- s 
tion, have been bitten ; 7ji! 
some have shown me 
the marks, and de- 
scribed the cure. AVhen 
I ask how they explain 
this, the answer gener- 
ally is: " I don't explain 
it; I don't believe ia 
conjuration; I only 
know the cure is cer- 
tain." The conjuror 

uses no medicine but a small leaf of tobacco or other plant, 
which he holds upon his tongue while pronouncing the charm. 
He applies it then to the bite, pressing it smartly with the ball 
of his thumb, and in less than twenty-four hours the patient is 
entirely well. Such is the experience detailed to me by three 
nearly white and very intelligent men. 




CURING SNAKE-BITE. 



390 " STUPID SANDS." 

Simple as is the form of government, the Nation did not 
succeed in establishing it without a rebellion and period of 
reconstruction. I have spoken of the old and main division of 
the Nation into Upper and Lower Creeks. Under the old 
aboriginal system each of these was entitled to a chief and 
minor officers ; there were civil chiefs and war chiefs, and a vast 
multitude of offices, three or four times as many as at present. 
This continued with various modifications until 1867, when the 
Constitution was adoi)ted. Two-thirds of the old dignitaries 
had to go out of office, and those who failed of election under 
the new system were |)roperly disgusted. Among them was an 
arch-plotter, named Ok-ta-ha-sars-ha-go, literally translated 
"Stupid Sands." He raised a company of several hundred, 
appeared at the Council Ground on Inauguration Day, and 
declared in iavor of the old system, announcing his intention to 
break up the new Council by force. The Chief elect, Chicota, 
sent away the women and children, put the town in a state of 
defence, and called out his supporters, who soon considerably 
outnumbered the others. Sands then appealed to the freedmen 
on questions of loyalty, but they failed to respond. His party 
dwindled away without a fight, and Major Lyon, Creek Agent, 
succeeded in reconciling most to the new Government. Sands 
then began to intrigue at Washington, and appealed to the 
people at home, but was overwhelmingly defeated in 1871, 
Chicota being re-elected. Sands died while we were in the 
Nation, his death being hastened, the people said, by disap- 
pointment. 

Just west of the Creeks lie the Seminoles, who are at this 
time in great distress, for the following reasons : The main body 
" were induced to leave Florida," and settle here, soon after the 
Creeks came. The latter acknowledged the old kinship, and a 
close friendship was established. By treaty of 186G the Creeks 
ceded all the western part of their country to the United States, 
*' upon which to locate other Indians." The Seminoles at once 
m\d all their first reservation to the United States, at fifteen 
cents an acre, and bought two hundred thousand acres of these 
"ceded lands," next to the Creek line, at fifty cents an acre. 



SEMINOLE TROUBLES. 



391 




OK-TA-HA-SARS-HA-GO. 



This money, by the way, goes into the Creek trust funds. The 
Surveyor came to run the line, and being threatened by a band 
of Kioways, merely took the word of an oUl trader for it, and 
set up posts at the termini by guess. The Seminoles settled 
there and have improved industriously for six years. Lately 
the Interior Department has had the line correctly located, and 
it shows the entire Seminole tract to be within the country of 
the Creeks. They are utterly without land or homes, and their 
labor for six years goes to the Creeks. They wanted to be near 
the Creeks — their language is the same — but maintain their 
nationality. So they ask the Government to give them other 
lands to an equal amount, just outside the Creeks. 

A small band of the latter are still in Alabama and Florida, 



302 PROGRESS AND HOPE. 

and the Kation is moving to bring thcni out. The people of 
tlie Alabama, Cowassartee, ami Boluxshee towns (of the Creek 
Nation) tell us that they have a large number of relatives and 
friends now wandering in Southern Texas. These are the last 
of a detaehment who were part of the " Old Nation " east of the 
Ivlississippi. They left there between 1807 and 1812, when the 
Nation first eame into contaet with tlie whites, and moving by 
sueeessive stages westward, settled between the Sabine and 
Naches Rivers, then a part of Mexieo. In 1830 they were 
forcibly expelled from there by the new Republic of Texas. 
They started hither; a few reached this Nation, more settled 
among the Choctaws, and about five hundred, totally destitute 
of horses and provisions, were obliged to remain in Texas. 
Since then they have been outcasts and vagabonds, driven to 
and fro among the whites, always longing to j'each this section, 
but never able to come. The Creeks have kept up regular 
communication with them for years, and now propose to petition 
Congress to bring them here. The main body has now been 
here thirty-five years, in which time they have totally aban- 
doned idolatry, become good stock raisers and tolerably good 
farmers; iialf educated one generation, and made arrangements 
to fully educate the next, become eminently peaceable and a 
little more than self-sustaining. Can we not afford to leave 
this section to them one generation longer — at least until we 
have settled and improved all the waste places of the two States 
and the Territory north of it? 

At noon of a bright April day we return to the railroad at 
Muscogee, to find matters worse than ever. As we sit down to 
dinner in tlie boarding-car, a half-blood Creek, crazy with 
smuggled whisky, is galloping up and down the row, brand- 
ishing a huge revolver, and tiireatening death to all opponents. 
At one moment he rides liis horse into a shop, emerges the next, 
and gallops u[)on a group of wenches, who scatter with a chorus 
of screams. A file of soldiers from a <letachment on the road 
appear on the scene, arrest and disarm him, and the town 
returns to its normal condition of listlessness and idle chatter. 
Severe penalties are prescribed against selling whisky in the 



SMUGGLING WHISKY. 393 

Territory, and that -which is smuggled in is the vilest compound 
known to the trade, lliniiliarly culled " tarantula juice," iVom 
the most deadly insect in the country. A few traders make 
this smuggling a regular business, the ])artner in Kansas ship- 
j)ing whisky to the partner here in cases marked "eggs," 
"tobacco," etc. An old acquaintance of mine in Clietopa told 
me, merely as a matter of news, that he followed the business a 
year before being detected. He was then arrested and taken to 
Fort Smith, Arkansas, Federal Court headquarters for this 
country; he brought his case to trial at once, "before the evi- 
dence could accumulate," and got off with a loss of four hun- 
dred dollars fine and costs. Pie returned at once to Chetopa 
and engaged again in the business, without the loss of a week's 
time. Being better posted and more wary, he run the business 
six months longer without being suspected, and retired respect- 
ably, with large profits. 

A small company of soldiers is stationed here, under com- 
mand of a Lieutenant, and others at various points in the Ter- 
ritory ; and all of them look even more listless and uninterest- 
ing than soldiers generally on the plains, Mdiich is saying quits 
enough. Officers are abundant enough all over the Territory, 
but I have met no one who could give me any clear informa- 
tion about the condition of civil government. Says an old 
Southern i)hysician, who has lived here ten years : "The fact 
is, there is no government actually, but lots of trials. If both 
parties are Indians — that is, have * head rights' in the Nation — 
it's tried by Indians under their laws; if cither's a white man, 
it's tried at Fort Smith, and that's just no trial. There is no 
collision of governments, for the Federal authorities don't care 
a d — n about the country. My protection and government is 
in these stone walls, a shot-gun and six-shooter. If these 
Creeks was not just the most quiet, peaceable ])eople on earth, a 
decent man couldn't live here. These infernal white scalawags 
Mould ruin the country. Yes, sir; there's plenty of law and 
lots o' trials, but no government." 

Here, as about Vinitn, we hear much of the proposed Terri- 
tory and reform of the land tenure. This last, it is evident, 



394 



WHITE INHABITANTS. 



ouo-lit to be changed ; for thousands of wliite men, who would 
strictly respect the right of pro[)erty in an individual Indian, 
cannot but feel a longing to "take up" some of that lield by 
the Indians in common. The Cherokees, for instance, own in 
common six million acres, more than one-fourth the area of 
Indiana, while there are but sixteen thousand of them. Any 
citizen of the Nation can fence as much land as he wishes, 

_ . ^^ and it is then his, to 

"^ZL - all practical intents, 

while he occupies it, 
^g= and he can quit-claim 
or sell his improve- 
ments. But he has no 
fee simple, and, if aban- 
doned, the soil falls 
back to the connnon- 
alty again . But the 
Cherokees have a law 
that no man can fence 
within a quarter of a 
mile of another's fence; 
there must be that much ' 
common of pasturnge be- 
Z tweentheni. TheCreeks 
allow inclosures without 
this common strij), thus 
causing the entire coun- 
" ox A PERMIT." try to be shut up in some 

few places. White men 
can only reside in the "Nation" by marriage and adoption, by 
a "permit" to trade, or as employes. This last privilege is 
shamefully abused. Men go once a year to some Indian, make 
a contract to work a year for him, take out papers to that effect, 
and roam the country till that time the next year. The Chero- 
kees require ^\\ indorsement of the candidate by seven citizens, 
and a certificate of character from his last residence, before 
adopting him as a citizen. "Permits" to trade, from the Fede- 




" WHITE SCALAWAGS." 



395 



ral authorities, are subject to the usual influences of chicane 
and favoritism ; and from all these causes it results that very 
many, if not a majority, of the whites resident in the Ter- 
ritory are poor, drifting scalawags, or down-right villains. 
These vagrant whites render the country generally unsafe, and 
still worse, demoralize the negroes and the Indians. 




PrwE-E3IPT0R'S CADIN. 




CHAPTER XXI. 

THE INDIAN TERRITORY. 

Ptail roads —The Thirty-fifth Parallel Route — Down to the Canadian — In the 
C'lioctaw Nation — Tandy Walker, Esq. — Secretary Delano visits the Territory — ■ 
Tramp to Fort Gibson — " White Cherokees " again — An Indian feud — At 
Widow Skrimshee's — " Pikes," on the animal migration^Tahlequah — Chero- 
kee documents — Curious records — History of the Nation — Summary of the 
Indian Territory, 

^"^^^^WO railroads traverse the Indian Territory: the Missouri, 
Kansas and Texas, from north to south, averaging 
forty miles from the eastern border; and the Atlantic 
and Pacific, from east to west, about as far from the 
northern border. The A. and P. still languishes, 
being completed no farther than Vinita; but is a road of con- 
siderable pretensions. Its nominal terminus is on the Pacific 
Coast. The "thirty-fifth parallel " road and the entire line has 
been surveyed through the Indian Territory and New Mexico, 
and now its agents speak of San Diego, California, as the real 
terminus. We are assured " there is no snow on the line at 
any season of the year," meaning, I suppose, none to do any 
hurt, which I am quite prepared to believe. But I am not 
yet prepared to judge between it and the better known (at present 
better supi)orted) El Paso route. 

The M. K. and T. runs from Sedalia, Missouri, to Fort 
Scott, Kansas; thence, south westward to Parsons, where it joins 
the other branch running southeast from Emporia. The two 
form a complete Y at Parsons; the lower stem continues nearly 
straight south through the Indian Territory, and is being 
extended to comiect with the Texas Central, and so form a con- 
tinuous line to the Gulf 

We were ofi* from Muscogee at 7 o'clock a. m. to see the 
390 



CANADIAN KIVER. 397 

remaining forty miles of road completed, then a little south of 
the main Canadian. The country traversed is Creek, of the 
same general character as that heretofore described — the low 
lands very rich, and the higher knolls and ridges too light and 
sandy, ** quick " for pasturage and producing an early growth of 
grass, but too thin for cultivation. We cross Little Canadian or 
North .i'ork, within a mile of the Methodist Mission, which is 
reported in a flourishing condition, but we lacked time to visit 
it. Two miles down the river is situated North Fork town, an 
important Creek village. We hear that a white nmn has just 
been mortally wounded in an affray there, all the parties being 
railroad followers. Between the two Canadians the piece of 
road is some seven miles long, and midway thereon was then 
the nominal terminus and the station for the El Paso Stao-e and 
Mail liine. We pause here an hour. Dusty and travel worn 
j)ilgrims are coming in from all points in Western Texas, and 
sj)ruec, clean looking people from civilization, starting out on 
long and toilsome journeys through the sandy plains between 
here and the Rio Grande. Thence to Main Canadian we 
traverse a dense forest; all the point between the two rivers is 
heavily timbered, and choked with underbrush. The main 
stream is now wide and rapid, apparently thick with red mud 
and sand; but after standing a few minutes, it is sweet enough to 
the taste, and close examination shows the stream to be tolerably 
clear, the red showing through the water from the bottom. The 
bridge here was finished several months before, and about the 
time the track was laid the southern abutment gave way. It 
was found that the stone used, from a neighboring quarry, was 
entirely unfit, falling to pieces in the water; and the entire 
pier had to be rebuilt. We went over on the first locomotive 
which crossed ; hitherto construction cars had been shoved across 
singly by hand. After our passage the engine brought over a very 
heavy train loaded with iron, and the bridge M-as then officially 
pronounced safe. 

We had observed, with a slight uneasiness, that Brad. Collins 
and his party came down on our train, and it was generally 



398 



TANDY WALKER. 




LIVELY TIMES ON THE CANADIAN. 



known that they had a cargo of smuggled whisky in the bag- 
gage-car. At the town on the river they met a dozen more of 
their sort; the whisky was opened and passed, and when we 
returned from viewing tiie bridge three of them were galloping 
about town, brandishing pistols, and yelling like demons. My 
companion took a brief look, and suggested, ''This is a devilish 
queer place : let's get out of it." This suited my humor ad- 
mirably ; so we crossed into the Choctaw country, and spent the 
day. Two miles through the heavy forest brought us to a 
beautiful farm, tilled and improved as well as the average in 
Ohio, which we found to be the residence of Tandy Walker, 
Esq., Choctaw, and nephew of ex-Governor Walker, of that 
Nation. Mr. Walker occupies a rather pretentious "double 



CHOCTAW NATION. 399 

log-liouse," built in the Southern style, with open porch or 
})assage between. Here we took dinner, and found him a 
gentleman of unusual intelligence and entt'r])rise. He tells us 
he is the only Choctaw in the district who is in iiivor of section- 
izing and admitting white immigration ; and there are not prob- 
ably a hundred in the Nation who favor it. He was once a 
lending man, but is now almost ostracized for his vote and 
opinions. He has five white men in his employ; and, like the 
Logan who " had none to mourn," he is " pointed at as the 
friend of the whites." By the laws of these Nations, white 
men can reside here by being employed by a legal citizen, in 
which case the citizen is responsible for their misdemeanors; or 
he can pay a license and take out a "permit" for his white 
employes, and the Nation takes the responsibility. The Choc- 
taws and Chickasaws, though marked on the map in separate 
divisions, are now united. They have one agent and one gov- 
ernment, and the citizens have equal rights in the whole country, 
which is known officially as the Choctaw Nation. 

This Nation is bounded on the south by Red River, and on 
the north by the Main Canadian and Arkansas, both running 
nearly eastward. Its east and west boundaries are right lines, 
being the border of Arkansas and longitude 98°. Thus its 
length is exactly two hundred miles, and its width from north 
to south will average a little more than half as much, beincr 
varied by the windings of the rivers, giving a total area of 
nearly twenty-one thousand square miles, or two-thirds the size 
of Indiana. All the southern third of this area is of jjreat 
average fertility, as reported by all visitors, consisting of the 
rich valley of Red River and its many tributaries. In the 
center, particularly tow^ard the west, are many mountain spurs 
and sand ridges; while the immediate neighborhood of the 
Canadian and Arkansas is very fertile, but yields soon to high, 
rolling prairie, valuable only for pasturage. This country, 
equal to two or three New England States, and of greater 
average fertility, has a population of 22,000; fertile land equal 
to one-third of Indiana, with the population of an average 
county. Of its people, 16,000 are Choctaws and 6000 Chick- 



400 



CHOCTAW JUSTICE. 




AT TANDY WALKER'S. 



asaws. Both are stated to be increasing in numbers as fast as 
would a white conituunity without immigration. The white 
men we meet here maintain that the Choetaws are much more 
advanced in civih'zation than tiie Creeks, and what I saw con- 
firms it. They enforce their laws much better, particularly in 
cases where whites or lialf-breeds are concerned. With their 
sporadic population, timber increases yearly, game is abundant 
and cheap, common pasturage is plenty, and cattle are grown at 
a cost of from three to eight dollars per iiead. 

The Choetaws were immensely wealthy before the war. 
Single herders numbered their cattle by thousands. The aver- 
age wealth was twice as great as that of any purely agricultural 
community in Indiana, and golden ornaments of every sort 



SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. 401 

were profusely displayed on horses, carriages, and the Indians' 
persons. The amount of fine clothes and jewelry sold by 
traders here at that time seems incredible. The war swept 
them clean; literally broke up and ruined them, leaving abso- 
lutely nothing but the land. Before the war Mr. Walker was 
accounted a millionaire. He began again, in 18G5, with fifty 
dollars and one saddle-mule. He was ahead of his neighbors 
only in this : his fifty dollars were in greenbacks, theirs were 
in Confederate notes. Those who " went south " Avere even 
worse mined than those who " took the Federal side." Some, 
it is said, died of grief and despair, on returning home in 1865. 
But most went resolutely to woi'k, and are once more prosper- 
ing. But many years will be required for those vast herds of 
cattle to be renewed. This neighborhood has every sign of a 
prosperous community of civilized farmers. On the whole, I 
rather like the Choctaws. 

While we were " locating tracks " through the Choctaw 
Nation, the Secretary of the Interior and his party came to 
inspect the railroad, remaining one night at the Canadian. 
Being in the interior, we failed to see them ; but on our return 
found the community jolly over the party's rich experience. 

The day they reached the end of the M. K. and T. track, a 
man was seized at 4 P. M., near the cars, by four robbers, and 
relieved of eighty dollars in gold, and that night one was shot 
dead within a hundred yards of their sleeping car. Mr. Wood- 
ard, Superintendent of the road, accompanied the party, and 
was rather lively in his jokes upon the employes for complain- 
ing of these ruffians and asserting there was danger on the road. 
That night one of the party was taken sick, and Mr. W. started 
out to look for a doctor. By mistake he poked his head into 
the tent of a gambler, named Callaiian, who happened to be a 
little out of humor. He thrust a six-shooter into Mr. Wood- 
ard's face, and exclaimed rather pointedly: "Air ye lookin' for 
me? I'm ready if y'are." Of course such intention Avas 
promptly disclaimed, and the Superintendent made good time 
off the ground. 

The Secretary was considerably stirred up, and issued some 
26 



402 A REBELLIOUS TEXAX. 

stringent order against " intruders in the Indian country." A 
lieutenant Avas sent to the terminus with a squad of cavalry, 
under orders to notify the " intruders," and shoot all who re- 
fused to leave within twenty-four hours. All the railroad 
business had been moved from Muscogee to Canadian River, 
and all the roughs who were able had followed. 

On the afternoon of a rather sultry day my companion and I 
left the abandoned town and struck out afoot northeastward for 
Fort Gibson. Three miles out brought us to the old Texan 
road, original wagon road and cattle trail from Western Texas 
to Kansas City and Leavenworth. Here we were overtaken 
by a grizzly, weatherbeateu old Texan, with a light load for 
Baxter Springs, Kansas, who politely asked us to ride. As we 
dropped valises in the wagon, he asked, with what sounded 
like an eager tone : 

"Got any whisky in them?" 

" No," was the answer, with expressed regrets. 

'' Ef ye had, ye'd walk, you bet; wouldn't have you get In 
here with one pint of whisky for five hundred dollars!" 

This radical temperance platform in this latitude excited our 
astonishment, and we called for an explanation. He gave it 
thus: "A burnt child dreads the fire. One pint, yes, one dram 
o' whisky 'd cost me this hull load. These Deputy Marshals — 
d — n the thievin' rascals, I say — they'll search y'r wagon any 
minnit, and if they find one drop, away goes the hull load to 
Fort Smith, and d — n the haight of it d'y ever see again. One 
trip a nice lookin' chap enough asked me to ride. He got In, 
and pretty soon pulled a flask. ' Drink,' says he. 'After you,' 
says I. Well, in less 'n ten minutes conies the marshals and 
grabbed us. If they find a drop even on a man as Is ridin' 
with you, they take everything, and nary dollar do you ever 
git. Why, that feller was In with 'em, of course. They seize 
everything they can git a pretence for, and then divide. There 
won't anybody but a scamp or a rough take such an office as 
Deputy Marshal in this country. They're all on the make, 
and in with these roughs. That's what I say." 

I would fain hope the old man Avas mistaken In his general 



ARKANSAS FERRY. 403 

estimate of Federal officers in this Territory, but there is too 
much evidence of this nature to permit me to believe the charge 
entirely false. That most outrageous frauds have been perpe- 
trated by these fellows I cannot doubt ; I can only say that the 
people generally, both white and red, credit a few of the mar- 
shals with honesty and official probity. 

Three miles with our slightly rebellious Texan friend brouglifc 
us to the Arkansas River, and to a steam ferry-boat, Avhich 
caused in me unbounded astonishment. I could scarcely have 
believed there was such a thing in this country. But, indeed, 
this was a very important road before the railroad came, and 
here, at the mouth of Grand River, is the head of navigation on 
the Arkansas. Steamers run up the Grand River, which has 
back-water from the Arkansas, three miles or more, and land 
at Fort Gibson. By a series of dams and locks, like those on 
Green River, Kentucky, I am convinced the Arkansas could 
have slack-water navigation a hundred miles or more al)ove 
tills. The waters of Grand River and those of the Arkansas 
show like two broad bands, one misty blue and the other dirty 
red and yellow, in the main channel as far as we can see below 
their junction. The residents tell us the two streams, the clear 
and the muddy, run side by side for nearly twenty miles, when 
a series of riffles and sharp turns mingles them freely in a fluid 
of pale orange tint. 

We landed below the mouth of Grand River and walked 
some three miles across a rich bottom, containing many nice and 
well-cultivated farms, the homes of Cherokees. The ferry 
landing is the joint property of two " White Cherokee" widows, 
who rent it for forty-five hundred dollars per year. Not a bad 
thing for gentle savages. Their neat white frame cottages, and 
those of their neighboi's, embowered in white blossoming fruit 
trees, and surrounded by handsome grain fields, look like any- 
thing but the homes of a barbarous people. 

Arrived at Gibson, we find quarters at the inevitable "double 
log-house" hotel, with open porch, veranda and multitudinous 
additions, kept, and well kept, too, by an old Pennsylvania 
Dutchman, with a "White Cherokee" wife. Our host, Mr. 



404 FORT GIBSON. 

Kerr, is a noted man iii the Nation, and has been here ever 
since 1833. Before that he was a hnnter and trapper in the 
Rocky Mountains, and has camped many a night on the spot 
where Salt Lake City now stands. He was full of questions 
about that region, and called to mind a dozen landmarks I had 
seen, where, in his time, was an unsettled wilderness, and where 
he then thought gold and silver would some day be developed. 
Here we rested till afternoon of the next day, visiting, in the 
meantime, Mr. Cunningham, Judge Vann and Hon. A. Rattling 
Gourd, prominent men of the Cherokee Nation. We found the 
town disturbed and the intelligent Cherokees in deep distress. 
For bad news had just reached them, news of an event that to 
their minds seemed to threaten civil war and conse({uent de- 
struction to Cherokee nationality. As we heard the story at 
Gibson, it ran that a Cherokee Court, while iu session trying a 
man for murder, had been attacked by enemies of the prisoner, 
led on by white men, and that ten or a dozen were killed on 
each side. This had happened in Going Snake District, north 
of Tahlequah, so we determined to push on to the latter place 
and learn the official report. 

Fort Gibson takes its name from the former military post 
here, disestablished soon after the war. Most of the buildings 
remain in tolerably good order, and all are occupied for various 
business purposes. The town has half a dozen nice frame and 
brick houses, and some fifty neat log houses, probably three 
hundred inhabitants, two good hotels, and an air of enterprise. 
It is the entrepot of a large agricultural district, and the location 
of a Cherokee Court, and Secretary Delano has decided that a 
term of the United States District Court shall be held there for 
the Indian Territory, instead of at Fort Smith, Arkansas. This 
would be a most important reform. Business, which has hith- 
erto tended toward the eastern border, will now set toward the 
railroad, and it is best for white, black and red to have the 
Court which takes cognizance of inter-race difficulties, in the 
center of the country. 

The distance to Tahlequah is twenty-two miles, which we 
must divide in two journeys. " Better stop at "Widow Skrim- 



A HOT WALK. 



405 



shee's over night; got a good liouse and a white son-in-law ; 
'taint but fifteen miles there," said our new friends. So, valise 
on shoulder, we started for the Widow's, through a beautiful 
and well-improved country for the first six miles. The log 
houses here are superior in style to those in most new countries, 
being high, neatly squared at the corners, and well shingled. 
There are few frames. The improvements are much finer than 
among the Creeks, and 
about equal to those of 
the Choctaws. From 
rolling prairie we de- 
scended into a broad 
valley with heavy tim- 
ber. From the open 
and windy plain to this 
grove was like going 
from pleasant April to 
sultry July. Our val- 
ises seemed to weigh a 
hundred each; our 
clothing dripped with 
sweat, and we were 
soon exhausted by fa- 
tigue. We turned aside 
to the residence of a 
"White Cherokee," the 
usual double log with 
porch between, lay pros- 
trate in the passage, 
smoked a pipe of his "home raisin'," and "interviewed" him 
as to the situation. He had been a Union Cherokee; took 
a hundred men out of here by night in the fall of '61 ; went 
North and became a Captain ; came back after the war, found 
his house and fences burned and all his stock run off — some to 
Kansas, some to Texas. "Was rich afo' the war; derned poor 
now, but gittin' started again. Hated the loss of his sheep 
wuss'n anything else — fine bloods — couldn't get others like 'em. 




FOREST SCENE. 



406 " SKRIMSHEE." 

Common sheep, what the Kansas folks didn't steal, tuck the 
scab and died. Was in favor of Ockmulkee Constitution, op- 
posed to Oklahoma. Did not see what white men wanted here, 
with so much good land up north yet. Reckoned they was like 
S})oiled children — always wanted a thing ten times as bad if 
they knowed they oughtn't to have it," etc. 

AVe traveled on in the cool of the evening, and at dark 
reached Skrimshee's completely fagged out. AVe found the 
widow a dark Cherokee, social and intelligent, with a handsome 
half-blood daughter, married to a white man. AVith a pleasing 
Southern accent she related her experience in the " old Nation 
in Geaugey," and removal here. Her memory ran back to a 
time when a few of the Cherokees still practiced some heathen 
rites; but the tribe was always rather advanced in some respects. 
For a hundred years they have cultivated corn and tobacco, and 
occupied well built log houses. She inquired with great interest 
of Hon. James Ashley, who stopped at her house when on his 
special mission here; and if the honorable gentleman should 
read this volume, he is hereby assured of Mrs. Skrimshee's con- 
tinued high regard. Morning showed this to be a place of great 
natural beauty. A gentle slope toward a clear stream is covered 
by fine timber ; behind the house rises a beautiful mound, and 
at the foot of the slope is an immense spring of cold, clear 
water. At some distant day this will be a place of fashionable 
resort. Near the spring, which is enlarged to a rod square in 
the solid rock, were encamped a number of families en route 
from Texas to Missouri. The young man of the house, who 
had lived there five years, assured us there was a considerable 
number who moved once a year, raising one crop in Missouri 
and the next in Texas, dodging the tax-gatherer, trading along 
the way a little and living many weeks on the road. Some of 
them he knew by sight who had passed three or four times. As 
the wagons rolled out I scraped acquaintance with the chief man 
of the outfit, our entire conversation being just this: 

Myself—" Moving back, eh ? " 

He — "No, by G — d, a movin' right straight ahead." 

[ felt that I had obtained some information, and forbore. 



WE REACH TAHLEQUAH. 



407 




AT AVIDOW SKKIMSHEE'S. 



AVe reached Tahleqnali at noon, passing for the last two miles 
through a rich open country, in wliich is the Orphan Asylum 
and School. Tliis institution will compare favorably with 
similar ones in the States. Tahlequah is in the edge of a beauti- 
ful grove, and is a fair average town of perhaps five hundred 
inhabitants. The Capitol is about of the same architectural 
rank as the best High School buildings of Cincinnati. Built 
of brick, in a perfect square, three stories high, with a cupola, 
it is rather smaller than tlie State House at Indianapolis, but 
much prettier and better built. 

We are directed to the hotel kept by Mrs. Thomson, rather 
light Cherokee, widow of a white physician, and, as we near 
her house, the clear notes of a well-toned piano are born to our 



408 WILLIAM BOUDINOT. 

ears, and the familiar music of the " Cornflower Waltz" strikes 
us with a strange mixture of the odd and pleasing. It is 
a day of merriment with the " V/hite Cherokees/' for Mrs. 
Thomson's youngest daughter was married yesterday to a white 
young man, son of an old missionary, and we arrived in the 
middle of the "iufair." The bride is the prettiest girl I have 
yet seen in the Nation. Her one-fourth Cherokee blood makes 
her an olive brunette, to be voted as of rare beauty anywhere. 

The musician we heard proved to be William Boudinot, a 
rather noted citizen, editor of the Cherokee Advocate, brother 
of the Elias Boudinot who has been active at AVashington in 
pushing forward the Oklahoma Bill. William is earnestly 
opjK)sed to that measure, and to white immigration, but ad- 
vocates the Ockmulkee Constitution and allotment of land — that 
each Cherokee may hold his own share in foe simple. A few 
of the more intellifjent aij-ree with him, but the mass of the 
Nation are equally opposed to both plans. They are suspicious 
of all changes. To them sectionizing and allotment look only 
like cautious schemes to admit more white men ; they arc 
ignorant alike of the minor points in Ockmulkee and Okla- 
homa,* and alike distrust both. The Advocate is the official 
and national organ of the Cherokee Nation, and is a handsome, 
Avell edited sheet. The Ciioctaws have a small paper called tlio 
Vindicator. These are the only journals published in the 
Territories. 

Here we receive the official account from Judge Sixkillcr 
and the Sheriff of Going Snake District, of the late terrible 
riot there ; also, the account of the other side, published in an 
Arkansas paper. It appeal's, from both accounts, that the 
prisoner Proctor, some time ago, shot at a white man, missed 
him and killed his wife, a Cherokee woman. As to the murder, 
both parties being Cherokees, the United States Court left that 
to the Nation ; but a Avarrant was issued against Proctor for 
ahootimj at the ivhite man " with intent to kill." Of course the 
greater crime took precedence, and the Cherokee Court pro- 
ceeded to trial. It Avas whispered about that Proctor would be 

"^ A Cherokee compound word signifying " The State of Red Men." 



A CHEROKEE FEUD. 409 

cleared, and the friends of the woman gathered, expressing- 
their determination, to kill him as soon as released. The 
Courts, fearing an attack, had a strong guard. Meanwhile 
United States Marshal Owens came with a warrant to arrest 
Proctor as soon as the Cherokee Court sliould discharge him, 
and most unwisely yielded to the clamors of the party hostile 
to the prisoner, took them as his 23osse and started for the 
Courthouse. 

As he neared the door, a nephew of the murdered woman 
sprang in before him and pbinted a gun at the prisoner. The 
latter knocked it down, when it was discharged into the floor. 
The guards then fired upon the attacking party, and a general 
battle ensued. The leader of the attack and Marshal Owens 
were mortally wounded, and seven of the outside party shot 
dead. Judge Alberti, the prisoner's counsel, Avas killed in his 
chair, as were two of the jurymen. Several more inside were 
wounded, including the Judge, Sixkiller, and the prisoner. 
The total loss is set down at eleven killed and eighteen wounded, 
two of them mortally. This terrible affair was one of sad im- 
port to the Cherokees. Their Courts had usually run with so 
little difficulty tiiat the slanders of their enemies had died for 
lack of any basis in fact. Tiiis occurrence, they feared, would 
be heralded over the country and at Washington as an act of 
resistance to law, and be made a powerful argument against 
their independence. 

We had a delightful rest of three days at the capital of the 
Cherokoes. The town reminds me of the better class of country 
villages in the interior of Indiana — not quite so well built, per- 
haps, but beautiful, with flower g^irdens, orchards, and culti- 
vated grass plats. The place is rich in historic interest. For 
twenty years all books, papers, and documents having relation 
to these people have been collected ; and what with excursions, 
talks with the young people, and reading Indian literature, we 
had a season of novel enjoyment. The Cherokees represent the 
best history and the hope of the Indian race, as regards civiliza- 
tion, justice from the whites, and a future. If they are a fail- 
ure, the race is doomed. 

They have been an organized Nation, with Constitution, elected 



410 



CHEROKEE LAW. 




riGIIT AT GOING SNAKE COURT HOUSE. 

officers, and written laws, for seventy years ; and their published 
records are of the most intense interest. The first printed law 
I find is dated Broom's Town (in Georgia), 11th Sept., 1808, 

and reads : — 

Resolved by the Chiefs and Warriors in a National Council Assembled: . . . 
When any person or persons which may or shall be charged with stealing a horse, 
and upon conviction by one or two witnesses, he, she, or they, shall be punished 
with one hundred stripes on the bare back, and the punishment to be in propor- 
tion for stealing property of less value; and should the accused person or per- 
sons raise up with arms in his or their hands, as guns, axes, spears and knives, 
in opposition to the regulating company, or should they kill him or them, the 
blood of him or them shall not be required of any of the persons belonging to 
the regulators from the clan the person so killed belonged to. . ^ ^^. ^ 
Accepted: JiLACK Fox, Principal Chief. 

Pathkiller, Second Chief. 
TOOCHALAR. 
CiiAS. Hicks, Sec'y to Council. 



"rings." 411 

A number of acts following bear the signatures oi '^ Turtle-at- 
home, Speaker of Council," and Ehnautaunaueh. The gram- 
mar is often bad, but the meaning clear and explicit, and the 
punishments prescribed very severe. 

An address, issued May 6, 1817, sets forth that "Fifty-four 
towns and villages have convened in order to deliberate on the 
situation of our Nation ;" and ends by proposing a " Set of 
Rules," or new Constitution, of six articles, " as a form for the 
future government of our Nation." The Constitution -would 
cover about two pages of this work, and appears to have been 
unanimously adopted. The new government had been in oper- 
ation but a few years before it was troubled by "rings," and a 
huge Credit Mobilier scheme, darkly hinted at in an act passed 
October 30, 1819, beginning thus : 

Whereas, The Big Rattling Gourd, William Grirait, Betsey Broom, the Dark, 
Daniel Griffin and Mrs. Lesley have made certain ])romises, etc. : 

Be it now, therefore, known, The above persons are the only legal 

proprietors and a privileged company to establish a turnpike, leading from Widow 
Fools', at the forks of Hightower and Oastinallah, to the first creek east of John 
Field's, known by the name Where-Yann-was-shot, etc. 

An " investigation " resulted, of course, but it proved that 
no member of the House of Chiefs or House of Warriors had 
any stock in the turnpike. 

The next act divides the fifty-four towns into eight judicial 
districts, naming a council house for each ; and full provisions 
were subsequently made for light-horse companies, to serve as a 
posse, under command of the sheriifs. From such feeble be- 
ginnings the organization of government appears to have pro- 
ceeded much as among other people until 1825, when the grand 
agitation began for the removal of the Cherokees. Fifty acts 
or more appear, relating to encouraging missionaries, establish- 
ing schools, preventing the woods being set on fire, the return 
of estrays, etc ; then most of the laws refer to their dealings 
with the whites. A more complete Constitution was adopted 
in 1827; and, in 1829, an official paper established, edited by 
Elias Boudinot and Stephen Foreman, and known as the 
Cherokee Phoenix. Meanwhile part of the tribe had removed 
to Arkansas Territory ; and their laws, " Entered by request of 



412 CHEROKEE ARCHIVES. 

the old Chief, John Jolly," and signed by Walter Webber, 
Black Fox, Too-(;ho-wuh, and Spring Frog — wonder if he was 
in that Credit Mobilier? — are bound up with the rest. 

The Eastern and Western Cherokees reunited in their present 
country in 1839, and the "Act of Union" is signed by James 
Brown, Te-ke-chu-las-kee, George Guess (Se-quo-yah), Jesse 
Bushyhead, Lewis B,oss, Tobacco Will, Thomas Candy, Young 
Wolf, Ah-sto-la-ta and some others. At the conclusion is 
this endorsement: 

"The foregoing instrument was read, considered, and ap- 
proved by us, this 23d day of August, 1839 : Major Pullum, 
Young Elders, Deer Track, Young Puppy (!), Turtle Fields, 
July, The Eagle, The Crying Buffalo, and a great number of 
respectable old settlers and late emigrants too numerous to be 
copied." 

A new and much more elaborate Constitution was adopted, 
and among the names of the legislators appear O-kan-sto-tali 
Logan, Young Wolf, Bark Flute (probably a musical orator), 
Oo-la-yo-a, and Soft Shell Turtle. Thence the acts continue 
with an odd mixture of the ludicrous and severe; but when we 
come to their history as connected with the whites and the 
Government, the record ceases to be amusing. 

Far back of the time when white men met them, the tradi- 
tions of the Cherokees are so well connected and consistent that 
they deserve the name of history. 

Between five hundred and a thousand years ago the aborigines 
of Western North Carolina found themselves crowded upon by 
a superior race moving southward along the eastern base of the 
Blue Bidge, a branch of the great Waupanuckee, to whom the 
whites gave the name of Lenni-Lennape, or Delawares. By 
their account the Powhatanese, the race of Pocahontas and 
Opechancanough and other noted tribes, are part of the same 
stock. After a brief period of warfare they established them- 
selves in an irregular square consisting of Western North Caro- 
lina, East Tennessee, and Northern Georgia and Alabama, and 
were considered as " the younger sons of the Delawares." Some 
twenty years before our Revolution, occurred their first general 



CAKOLINA WAK. 



413 




GEN. MARION IN THE CHEROKEE COUNTRY. 



war with the whites. The Caroh'nas raised a force of twelve 
liundred militia, who, joined by a large force of British regu- 
lars, marched into the Cherokee country. In this army were 
two militia lieutenants, since known to fame, as Major Peter 
Horry and General Francis Marion. Tlie Cherokees took 
position at a mountain pass, and Marion commanded the scout- 
ing party sent to explore it. He was surprised and nearly all 
his command destroyed. A desperate battle then ensued, in 
which the Cherokees were finally defeated with great slaughter. 
The army entered their country, burned their towns and cut 
down all their corn, then just in the roasting-ear state. Major 
Horry tells with surprise of their superior dwellings and style 
of cultivation, far in advance of any other Indians. 



414 CHEROKEE EXODUS. 

The irregular wars which followed were terminated by the 
treaty of Hopewell in 1785, made with the American Confede- 
ration, the first treaty of which the Cherokees have any account. 
They adopted the arms, household and agricultural implements 
of the whites, took some steps in civilization, and have ever 
since striven to live at peace with us. This was followed by 
the treaty of Holston in 1791, the treaty of Philadelphia in 
1794, and that of Tellico in 1798, all made with the United 
States, and each containing words expressly recognizing the 
Cherokees as " a separate and independent Nation, with power 
as a body politic, and to be dealt with as one Nation deals 
with another." This express recognition has been repeated 
in nineteen successive treaties, and judicially determined in 
their favor by the Supreme Court of the United States. In 
the year 1794, letters patent issued for the Cherokee lands, 
bearing the signature of George AVashington. 

All these solemn agreements were broken at once, in 1802, 
by the "compact between the State of Georgia and the United 
States," a compact to which the Cherokees were neither a party 
nor advised thereof. They were simply its helpless victims. 
They were told then, as now, that they must civilize; and then, as 
now, they were striving to progress, already had much of their 
land under cultivation, lived in houses, welcomed teachers and 
missionaries, and had schools, workshops and newspapers. In 
the administration of Jeiferson, the States in which they lived 
began an agitation for their removal ; it increased to a popular 
frenzy under Jackson, and ended by a new treaty under Van 
Buren. Then took place the world-renowned " Cherokee Dis- 
cussion." It created schism in the State Legislatures, it fur- 
nished eloquence in Congrsss, and gave point to party warfare; 
the mild but persistent energy of the Cherokees, their diplo- 
matic ability and shrewdness, above all the evident justice 
of their cause, made them world-renowned ; the sympathetic 
heart of Whittier has overflowed in rhythmic plaints for their 
wrongs, and the story of their fortitude was embellished by the 
genius of Halleck. 

Triumphant before every legal tribunal, up to the Supreme 



INDIAN TERRITORY ORGANIZED. 415 

Court, they yielded at last to the threats of superior power. 
But the whole country had become interested in them, to an 
extent which we can now scarce realize. It was the question of 
the hour. The files of papers of that period arc full of refer- 
ence to them. The States from which they moved, and every 
department of the National Government united in most solerhn 
and repeated pledges to the Cherokees, if they would consent 
to remove, of a country which should be theirs and theirs only 
forever, — pledges of protection from war, trespass and intru- 
sion, of local and self-government, and of the unquestioned 
ownership of their new lands by a fee simple title, under letters 
patent, signed by the President. 

The Cherokees became divided on the subject of removal ; 
part agreed to go, and another pledge of protection was 
made to the few who desired to remain. This division was 
recognized by the Government in two treaties of 1817 and 1819. 
President Monroe's message in 1825, recommended the setting 
apart of a country for those "semi-civilized races for their occu- 
pancy forever," and Jackson renewed the proposition in 1829. 

Thus called upon by the Indians' "Great Father," Congress 
passed, on the 28th of May, 1830, the act setting aside this 
Territory, with the most solemn guarantees. One clause reads : 
" It shall and may be lawful for the President solemnly to 
assure the tribe or Nation with which the exchange is made 
that the United States will forever secure and guarantee to them, 
their heirs or successors, the country so exchanged with them, 
and if they prefer it, the United States will cause a patent to be 
made and executed to them for the same; provided, always, that 
such lands shall revert to the United States if the Indians 
become extinct or abandon the same." Under this the most of 
the Cherokees agreed to, and did, remove. Tradition tells us 
that as the main body of several thousand took up their line of 
march for the river on which they embarked, sad and silent, 
they moved with a quiet dignity the whites have often called 
sullenness, disdaining to show the grief which rent their bosoms; 
but when they reached the hights from which a last look 
could be had of their most beautiful valley, the oldest woman of 



416 



LAMENT OF THE EXILES. 




^X\"-^^vli 



THE LAST CRY OF THE CIIEKOKEE. 



the tribe turned her face to the east, uttered one heart-piercing 
shriek, and fell dead to the ground. Then every warrior's eye 
became a fountain of tears, and from every part of the line 
the women united in a wailing chorus that sounded for miles 
along the stream — a long, mournful, monotonous howl. It was 
the last despairing wail of an exiled race. 

The few who remained endeavored to sell their improved 
iarms and go in better condition. But they were harassed in 
the same manner as the Creeks, of which I have heretofore 
spoken, and lost their lands in spite of their care. But the 
people were moved to sympathy. The Government tried to 
atone for this, and ceded them lands here, acre for acre with 
those they had left. Another treaty was made with all the 



WEALTHY CHEROKEES. 417 

solemn forms, and with renewed promises, attested by every 
department of Government, and double-secured by a patent for 
their lands. Bear in mind, this is not an "Indian title," so 
called, not a title by occupancy, not a '^ squatter's right ;" but a 
patent of the United States, specially provided for by act of Con- 
gress, bearing the name of the President, adorned by the broad 
seal of the National Government, twice pronounced perfect by 
the Supreme Court, and since fully recognized in eight solemn 
treaties ! Could title to land be more perfect ? 

The next treaty, that of New Echota, in 1835, renews all 
previous pledges, and the treaty of 1846 repeats almost the 
exact language of the act of May 1830, ending with the same 
words : " Such land shall revert to the United States if the 
Indians become extinct or abandon the same." Under these 
last three words the land robbers now seek to enter. They 
maintain that when the chief men and part of the Nation went 
into the rebellion in 1861, they did, by that act, "abandon the 
same" lands, that they became forfeit to the United States, and 
that there is now nothing but the savage Indian's title of occu- 
pancy, which we may abolish at pleasure. 

But the Cherokees seem to have been at last convinced that 
this country was to be theirs forever. They went to work, 
gradually learned the ways of civilization, welcomed teachers, 
established schools, and opened farms; by 1840 they were 
already considered prosperous; they lived in greater comfort, 
and consequently their numbers began to increase. By 1850 
they were considered a wealthy people. 

The new generation numbered many who had fine educa- 
tions, and their progress thence to 1860 was astonishingly rapid. 
Their average wealth was greater than that of any community 
in the West. Single herders owned cattle to the value of a 
hundred thousand dollars. In this mild climate and upon these 
rich prairies cattle multiplied rapidly. There was soon no land 
" running to waste," for all was utilized as pasture. Many 
white men sought citizenship or married Cherokee girls, and 
were adopted, and the advance of the Nation was healthful, 
natural and rapid. Such wealth, with the lingerings of a wild 
27 



418 RUINED IN THE WAR. 

taste, resulted in a semi-barbaric splendor which excited the 
astonishment or envy of white visitors. Their trade became of 
vast importance. Cattle came out, and carriages, pianos, fine 
horses and aecoutrements and golden ornaments went in. Re- 
turned traders of 1860 speak with astonishment of gaudy displays 
at their public gatherings, of their rich caparisons and golden 
tassels, and of wealth which showed ostentatiously in gold dol- 
lars worn by the dozen as buttons. Ten years more of such 
progress and a generation of Cherokees would have risen to 
invite white immigration by successive degrees, and to assist 
their more tardy Indian brethren in progress. Such was the 
scene in the spring of 1861. 

In 1865 the Nation was an almost uninhabited waste. Their 
cattle had been driven by tens of thousands into Kansas, 
Arkansas and Texas. Men arc now living in opulence in the 
former State who made their money out of Cherokee cattle, 
" confiscated " during the war. Their surplus was gone, they 
were on the verge of starvation, and had neither seed nor stock 
to start them again. The Southern Cherokees came back, and 
the Northern ones met them ; they made up their quarrel, sadly 
gathered up the little remnant they had left, and went to work 
again. But before they had recovered anything they were 
startled at having it announced that their lands were forfeited 
on account of their rebellion. Unlike the Southern rebels, they 
were to suifer confiscation ; "corruption of blood and forfeiture," 
which the Constitution forbids against an individual, the bor- 
derers claimed should be the rule against the Nation, and 
general distress and uncertainty prevailed through the period of 
reconstruction. These matters were finally settled, or supposed 
to be settled, by the "General Treaty of 1866," the twentieth 
and last treaty between our Government and the Cherokee 
Nation. They gave up much; surrendered all claim to their 
Kansas lands, and ceded their land west of meridian 96°, "for 
other Indians to be settled upon," reducing their former terri- 
tory from fourteen to seven million acres. But they still had 
the best part of it, and received in return for the rest new 
guarantees, reaffirming all before the war as to title. By this 



CHEROKEE TITLE. 419 

treaty the Government waived all rights, if it had any, to take 
advantage of their rebellion. By the twenty -sixth article 
thereof, " The United States guarantee to the people of the 
Cherokee Nation the quiet and peaceable possession of their 
country against domestic feuds and insurrections, or the hostil- 
ities of other tribes. . . . They shall also be protected 
against intrusion from all citizens of the United States who may 
attempt to settle on their lands or reside in their country." In 
return they grant the right of way to two railroads. 

Such is a brief account of our dealings with these people, and 
of the tenure by which they hold their lands, compiled from 
public documents, and in view of the present move against the 
title, I would ask in all seriousness : is there a farmer in Ohio 
who has a clearer, more legal or better supported title to his 
farm than they ? — a title twice especially provided for by Con- 
gress, twice supported by Presidential patent, twice confirmed 
by the Supreme Court, gained by the cession of lands held in 
severalty, and recognized by a dozen treaties ! The Govern- 
ment can do anything. For it to crush this feeble Nation 
would be like the chivalry of a giant trampling upon an infant. 
Granting for argument's sake that they do allow much of" their 
country to go to waste, still it is unquestionably theirs, in fee 
simple, and we could hardly advocate the right of taking an 
Ohio farm from the owner because he did not till it well. But 
the statement is not true. Nearly all of their country was util- 
ized before the war, and will be again ere many years. They 
are unquestionably progressing in civilization quite as fast as 
we could reasonably expect. Have we not broken faith with 
them often enough ? Can we not afford to try the experiment 
of honest dealing with one generation of Cherokees? 

April 26th, 1872. — -I am ready to leave the Indian Territory 
and go westward to Santa Fe, but first let me " sum up " on 
Oklahoma. 

I have now traveled a month among the Nations, some two 
hundred miles by rail and the same through the country afoot 
and on horseback. I have seen the Indians at home and on 
their farms, have attended their churches and visited their 



420 THE SITUATION. 

schools, have talked by their hearths and slej)t in their cabins, 
" eaten of their salt and warmed at their fires." My general 
impression is one of the most agreeable disappointment. I 
have seen so mnch more of progress, of improvement and ednca- 
tion, than I had been led to expect, that from a doubting in- 
difference I have attained to an earnest belief in their capacity 
and willingness for a perfect civilization. And if my con- 
clusions should sometimes read like an argument for the Indians 
here rather than a simple statement of facts, I will not deny 
that my sympathies are powerfully enlisted for these people, 
and I M'ould willingly do them a kindness if my humble pen 
could accomplish it in a portrayal of their case. 

Here are sixty thousand red men who are neither hunters nor 
root diggers ; they are agriculturists, herdsmen and mechanics. 
They long ago advanced from the savage to the barbarous state, 
when they first met the whites ; since then they have advanced 
from the barbarous to the half-civilized and civilized, and in 
another generation we may reasonable hope to see them civilized 
and enlightened. This Territory contains the hope, the stay, 
the glory of our aboriginal race. If these can not be civilized, 
the race is doomed. With more than ordinary interest, there- 
fore, I have studied their condition. I am now returned to 
where the prejudice is strong against them ; I hear them cursed 
every hour of the day, and from my window, at this moment, 
can look out upon an angry company of *' intruders," just ex- 
pelled by the military from the Osage lands in the Arkansas 
Valley. As briefly as possible, I propose to sum up my 
general observations, and the reason why these Indians are en- 
titled to the continued protection of the Government. 

The Indian Territory extends westward from the border of 
Arkansas to longitude 100°, which geographers roughly assume 
as the eastern border of the American Desert ; and northward 
from Red River to latitude 37°, the southern boundary of 
Kansas; a region with the same general climate as Tennessee 
and northern Mississippi. The exact area, including the wind- 
ings of Red River, is not officially ascertained, but is estimated 
approximately at forty-six million acres, or about seventy-one 



NOT A HEALTHFUL REGION. 421 

thousand square miles, two and a third times the size of In- 
diana. Of this entire area one-third may be safely set down as 
totally barren and worthless, consisting of the San Bois, 
Wichita and Boston mountains and spurs, and various high 
sand ridges between the streams. One-third more is of only 
average value for grazing purposes, and the remaining third is 
fine agricultural land. This last consists of the long valleys of 
the Arkansas and two Canadians and their tributaries ; of the 
valley of Red River and Grand River, and adjacent country. 
Alono- the eastern border again is another stretch of barren 
ridge and flinty hills. Most of the good land is very fertile, 
consisting of low-lying valleys, receiving the wash of higher 
lands; but there is very little of what is called "bottom," or 
overflow land. The climate can not be considered healthful ; 
in fact, from my own observation, I should call it very un- 
jiealthful. At the Creek Agency I had an attack of ague, for 
the first time in many years, and saw many other cases. Sick- 
ness is quite prevalent among the workmen on the Missouri, 
Kansas and Texas Road, and contractors informed me that last 
summer one-half of their force was disabled by malarial 
diseases. The Indians, being acclimated, are more fortunate; 
but any considerable removals among them are followed by great 
sickness. 

Typhoid pneumonia, in particular, has been endemic the past 
winter on the Arkansas; and Mr. Robertson, the Presbyterian 
missionary and teacher, assured me that in his acquaintance on 
that river (new settlers up north) "one in every eighteen died 
since the fall of the leaves." This was strictly confirmed by 
physicians at Vinita and Muscogee. Indeed, it is evident on 
the surface, along the railroad, that the country cannot be 
healthful. There are no springs, and none of the evanescent 
towns have endured long enough to dig wells; slough and 
river water were used exclusively there, and it was not till I 
was twenty miles away among the Cherokees that I got a 
single draught of spring water. The full-bloods live in the 
timber, along the streams, and frequently have tolerably good 
springs; but everywhere on the prairie the water used is from 
sloughs, or very shallow wells. 



422 



" HON. RATTLING GOURD/ 




CHEROKEE LEGISLATURE. 

This is a territory only in a geographical sense ; it has no 
territorial government like that of Utah or Montana. It was 
not organized, but "set apart" by Act of Congress, of May 28, 
1830, and contains three well organized governments, besides 
minor ones in embryo. These three governments — Cherokee, 
Creek and Choctaw — are republican in form, retaining, how- 
ever, the Indian titles, though api)lied to corresponding Federal 
officials. Some Indians have adopted or inherited European 
names; others have simply translated their native title into 
English, and still others have retained it complete. Hence, 
among their public men we find Ok-ta-ha-sars-ha-jo, WiHiam 
Boudinot Esq., Hon. A. Rattling Gourd, Judge Blackhaw 
Sixkiller, Governor AValker, Judge Going Snake and Black 



GOVERNMENT. 423 

Fox, Legis]atoi*s, and Turtle-at-home, Speaker in Council. 
One of the most intelligent Cherolcees I met was known as 
Beavers-grandmother. The delicate self-flattery thus implied 
doubtless is, that as the beaver is the wisest of animals, the 
beaver's grandmother must be exceedingly wise. All these 
governments are carried on very cheaply; the highest salary 
paid is seven hundred dollars. Only three get over four hun- 
dred. The Cherokee Nation pays one literary pension — three 
hundred dollars a year to the widow of Sequoyah. For most 
of the minor jiidicial positions, the honor is considered sufficient 
reward. The Cherokee Government was organized in a serai- 
republican form, as early as 1805. 

Over these various little Republics extend what might be 
called the Federal Protectorate. The entire territory is 
attached to the AVestern District of Arkansas, with Federal 
Court at Fort Smith. Thither are taken all criminal cases in 
which either party is a Mdiite man, not a citizen, and civil cases 
where any white man is a party in interest. The boundaries 
of the two jurisdictions seem accurately enough defined, but 
still there are frequent conflicts of authority, the Cherokecs 
being naturally a little jealous of the autiiority of their courts, 
and the United States Marshals emphatically "on the make." 
I am sorry to say that the report I bad of them from both 
white and red was, with a few honorable exceptions, unquali- 
fiedly bad. The location of a Federal Court at Fort Gibson, 
near the center of the Indian country, is a decided improve- 
ment. 

Of the territory, the Cherokees occupy the northeast quarter, 
their country running to a point southeastward between tlie 
Arkansas River and State line. The Choctaws have all the 
country between Canadian and Red Rivers, while the Creeks 
run partly in between the other two, in a long point eastward. 
Scattered among these or on their borders, in little divisions no 
larger than a township, are various minor tribes, remnants of 
decayed races from the North and East, such as the Quawpaws 
and Senecas in the northeast corner of the Cherokees, and the 
Wyandottes, Delawares and Shawnees, who by contract have 



424- ENUiMEEATION. 

bouglit a "general head right" in that Nation, sunk their 
tribal individuality, and become Cherokee citizens. On lands 
just west of each Nation, ceded for that purpose, several new 
tribes are lately settled, making twenty tribes and fragments 
of tribes in all. I estimate their numbers respectively as 
follows, from their vote, census, and recorded " head rights " at 
the agencies, assigning each to the proper Nation : 



CHEROKEE NATION. 

Full bloods 8,000 

Mixed 4,000 

Freedmen ....* 1,500 

Whites married in or adopted., 500 

Delawares 900 

Shawnees 700 

Wyandottes 400 

Quawpaws, 200 

Senecas 100 

Total Ciierokee Nation 1(3,300 



To which should be added some 2000 Cherokees now in 
North Carolina, who are desirous of settling here, and for whose 
removal the Nation is making provision, bringing the whole 
number up to about 18,000. I do not here include those new 
tribes west of 96°, not* yet formally incorporated. 



CEEEK NATION. 

Full Bloods 0,000 

Whites and mixed bloods 1,000 

Freedmen 4,000 

Seminoles 2,000 

Total Creek citizens 16,000 



CHOCTAW NATION. 

Pure Choctaws 10,000 

Mixed 4,000 

Whites 1,000 

Chickasaws 5,000 

Freedmen 2,000 

Total Choctaw citizens 22,000 



EDUCATION. 



425 



MINOR TRIBES. 

Osages, west of 96° 3 OOO 

. Kaws, west of 96° 600 

Unassigned, perhaps 3 400 

Total minor tribes, 7 ooO 

Grand total, 63,000 

The Clioctaws and Cherokees have the greatest number of 
intelligent men, but the Creeks are just now dohig the most for 
the rising generation. They have three Mission High Schools^ 
under control respect- 



ively of the Baptist, 
Methodist and Presby- 
terian Churches, and 
thirty -one common 
schools, mostly taught 
by native teachers. The 
Cherokees have sixty 
common schools and 
one college — that near 
Tahlequah. The Choc- 
taws have fifty common | 
schools, and those | 
among other tribes | 
bring the whole number 
up to one hundred and 
sixty — one to every four 
hundred of the popula- 
tion, a most gratifying 
average. The teachers 
I saw among the Creeks 




AN OSAGE CHIEF. 



and Cherokees appeared 

to me reasonably well 'qualified for their positions, but they 
have one serious obstacle in the language. In full blood settle- 
ments the child of ten learns to read in English at school, and 
talks the native language at home ; and distasteful as such a 
statement may be to their national pride, I think they can not 
be quite certain of their progress or standing until they agree to 



426 THE LAND TENURE. 

give up the old language and bring the English into general 
use. Many Cherokees who can talk English will not, and there 
seems to be a prejudice against those of their people who sp'eak 
it exclusively. The Creeks appear to be a peculiarly docile and 
teachable people, accepting readily the suggestions of white 
teachers. Teachers and missionaries are welcomed everywhere; 
the mode of living will compare favorably with the Southwestern 
States, and it appears to me that there is a security for life and 
property equal to any other Territory^ and a foundation for a 
really prosperous and powerful State. 

The present weakness of these people — at once their greatest 
drawback and the temptation to outsiders — as it seems to me, is 
their imperfect land tenure. The land is held in common by 
the whole tribe, but whatever area any citizen incloses with a 
lawful fence is his while he occupies it. Ho may be said to own 
the improvements, but not the land. Nothing is absolutely a 
fixture. Anything may be removed at the owner's Avill ; hence 
there is practically no real estate, no conservative landed inter- 
est — the only true foundation for a progressive society and a 
stable civil structure. The herder, hunter or explorer, from 
Kansas or Texas, rides through a beautiful tract, and when he 
asks who owns it the only answer is, "the Injuns — it's Injun 
land ;" that is, in his estimation, nobody's land, if he can by 
force or fraud get a foothold. If he wore told that it was the 
property of John Johnnycake or William Beavcrdam, or any 
other individual, with a patent title on which he could sue and 
be sued, the case would be very different to him. A strong 
party, therefore, is rising up, agitating for this reform. 

This is the distinctive feature of the Ocmulkee Constitution, 
which commands the support of the best men of the three Na- 
tions, and looks to a union of all the tribes under one govern- 
ment. It should receive every legal encouragement from Con- 
gress. But the common people are suspicious of this njove; 
to them sectionizing looks like an entering wedge for some 
scheme for dividing up their lands among railroad corporations 
and white immigrants. And where shall we look for the real 
power which gives impetus to the movements lately inaugurated 



EAILROAD GRANTS. 427 

looking to a Territorial Government, and the opening of this 
country to a general immigration ? By the treaty of 1866 all 
the Nations agreed to yield the right of way, with three hun- 
dred feet along the track, to two raih'oads, through the country. 
The roads which reached the border first were the Missouri, 
Kansas and Texas, running southward, and the Atlantic and 
Pacific westward. Look at the charter of the first road and you 
will find one clause to the effect that the road is to receive every 
section designated by odd numbers for ten miles on each side 
of the track — total of sixty-four hundred acres a mile — with 
these words conditional : "Provided said lands become a part 
of the public lands of the United States." The moment the 
Oklahoma Bill becomes a law they do become " public lands," 
and the railroad title attaches at once ! To the Atlantic and 
Pacific road, with its Van Buren branch, the grant, with the 
same condition appended, is twenty sections to the mile. Be- 
sides these, two other roads are pressing their claims for con- 
tingent grants with fair hope of success. The present area of 
the Cherokee country, exclusive of lands ceded for " other 
Indians to locate," is about 4,500,000 acres. The Missouri, 
Kansas and Texas railroad runs through this for eighty miles; 
the Atlantic and Pacific railroad will run about the same 
distance. Considering, then, only the roads actually being built, 
this gives them at least 1,500,000 acres ! The Oklahoma Bill, 
seventeenth section says : " The Secretary of the Interior shall 
cause the lands in said Territory to be surveyed, and from and 
after such survey the Indian title shall be deemed and held to 
be forever extinguished, and the lands to be public lands of the 
United States, subject to all grants and j^ledgcs heretqfoi^e made 
by acts of CongressJ^ 

Is it difficult to see where the motive power, and the "sinews 
of Avar," come from? But the territorial bill specially provides 
that each Indian shall have a hundred and sixty acres. Let us 
see, then, where the white settler would come in. There are 
at least sixteen thousand Cherokees entitled to " head rights," 
and two thousand more who can and will claim them by com- 
ing here. This takes up 2,880,000 acres. Besides, there are 



428 LET THEM ALONE. 

reserved school lands and some grants to mission stations. Add 
these up with the railroad grants, and you will find there is not 
quite land enough in the Cherokee country to fill the bill. To 
call it a bill in the interest of white immigrants is nonsense. 
In the Choctaw country there would be a small surplus — none 
in the Creek. Besides, in the Cherokee Nation the Missouri, 
Kansas and Texas Railroad runs right down the Grand and 
Arkansas Valleys, through the very best land, but in the 
Choctaw Nation it crosses the fine valleys at right angles, leav- 
ing a little more surplus. AVhere, then, in the northern part, 
would the white settler come in ? He could buy of the railroad 
at, perhaps, five dollars or more per acre. Siiall the Govern- 
ment revoke a fee simple deed and cover itself with ignominy, 
not to benefit white immigrants, but to j)ile up mountainous 
fortunes for a few corporations ? 

The first fee simple patent to the Cherokees bears the 
honored name of George Washington. Their patent for tiiis 
country, for which they traded other lands held in fee simple — 
lands sold by the Government for five times what it paid the 
Indians — was signed by Martin Van Buren, and it cannot bo 
that tlieir successor of to-day will sanction such an act of gross 
injustice and bad fliith, so contradictory to his own wise and 
humane Indian policy, which has given him not the least of 
his great claims to historic immortality. 

There are a score of reasons why a little more time should be 
given the Indians, and why we should not now throw open 
this country to general settlement. In the first ])lace, we have 
solemnly agreed not to do it, wdiich is reason enough for any 
honorable man. Secondly, there is no present necessity for it. 
There are countless millions of acres lying idle in every State 
and Territory nortli of it, untouched by the cultivator, and even 
unoccupied by the herdsman. There is more unused land in 
Kansas to-day than in the Indian Territory. There is room in 
Nebraska for half a million farmers. There is a tract in 
Dakota about the size of Indiana, yet unappropriated, with a 
climate suitable for Northern people, and a most prolific soil. 
When these are filled, and our population really begins to feel 



IT WILL NOT PAY. 429 

crowded, it will be time enough to trouble the Indians ; and 
long before that time these people will themselves vote to open 
the country, become like other borderers, and ask for immigra- 
tion to help develop it. But with Kansas on one side and 
Texas on the other, with as much or more good land, it appears 
to me as if thousands are half crazy to rush into the Indian 
country, just because it is forbidden. If these fellows who 
have been harassing the Osages, and running across the border 
here and back for the past two years, had put in the same 
labor almost anywhere in Nebraska, they M'ould have each 
owned a fine farm by this time. 

In the third place, to sectionize the country and throw it 
open on the present plan, would do the white borderer little or 
no good. The railroads, of course, get the first grab ; their 
land is already secured, and in the case of the Missouri, Kansas 
and Texas road, it would take the very heart of the country. 
Then the Indians, according to their custom of living, would 
take all the fine timbered land along the streams, and what 
would be left? Any prospective immigrant can figure for 
himself from the statistics given, and he will find that less than 
one-fifth of the good land would remain to select from. A few 
men would secure fine farms unquestionably, but for every 
such one twenty would be disappointed. Several thousand 
young men in Kansas arc fooling themselves badly about this 
country. There is not so much good land here as they imagine. 
And unquestionably, the climate is unhealthful for Northern 
people. Nor is it for the interest of Kansas as a State to have 
this country opened now. Her Senators should oppose it 
strenuously. If there were half the amount of good land they 
imagine. Southern Kansas would lose twenty thousand of her 
people at once by having it opened. It is not now a waste as 
regards them. Before the war, it was their great region of 
cattle trade and supply, and ere long it will be again. At 
present we have a National use for the Indian Territory. 

Our true policy is to secure these people in their homes, and 
make them our agents to deal with the wild tribes on the plains. 
Much has been done already, and more will be, to set the race 



430 ABORIGINAT. IIACF^. 

forward in civilization. Half civilized aud barbarous races are 
slowly being reached through the medium of their more advanced 
brethren. The Nations here are already moving in the matter, 
and a little assistance only is needed to enable them to reach 
and negotiate with all the wild tribes of Northern Texas and 
New Mexico. I am hopeful enough to believe that with a 
proper policy all the tribes in the same latitude, except possibly 
the Apaches, might eventually be made citizens of this Territory. 
The treatment and fate of aboriginal races has varied greatly 
under different governments. The Romans absorbed and 
Romanized when possible; otherwise, they removed and relocated 
them. When the Teutonic race overran Western Europe, the 
Celtic aboriginals mostly disappeared ; but, in certain districts, 
from special local causes, or from a more humane policy on the 
part of the conquerors, remnants survived ; and in portions of 
Scotland, the Erse districts of Ireland, in Wales, Brittany and 
Celtiberia, are flourishing communities to this day, little islands 
of Celts in an ocean of Teutons. We alone have had no fixed 
policy looking toward the saving and reclamation of any part of 
the native race. Writers, statesmen, and theorists have made 
haste to assume that they were a " doomed race," and the Gov- 
ernment has followed the exact policy to practicalize that theory. 
We have sent them our worst men and most destructive prac- 
tices, and have systematically broken faith whenever it seemed 
profitable to do so. Here only has a policy, something near 
sensible and just been pursued, and the results are not discour- 
aging. Let it be improved and extended, and we may reason- 
ably hope the Indians of all the Southern Territories may be 
gathered here; that an aboriginal community of two hundred 
thousand may grow into a high civilization; and in due time we 
may have a real native American State, a progressive and pros- 
perous State of Oklahoma. 




CHAPTER XXII. 

AROUND AND ABOUT TO SANTA FE. 

No thoroughfare from Indian Territory — Northward through Kansas — On the 
Plains at Last — The Ride over the Kansas Pacific — Ellsworth, and its Former 
Felicities — In the Buifalo Country — The " Big Pasture " of America — Arrival 
at Denver — " Them's my Sentiments " — The Country from Denver to Santa 
Fe — A case of Delirium Tremens. 

Y original intention was thwarted before I left the Indian 
Territory ; for there was no route thence westward to 
Santa Fe. I went some distance west of the Arkansas, 
but there were no inhabitants for two hundred miles from 
the Creek border. Then Kioways and Arapahoes dom- 
inated all the country for six hundred miles farther, before one 
could reach the Mexican settlements. We might have gone by 
stage from the Canadian River to Fort Sill, in the southwestern 
corner of the Territory ; but from there to Santa Fe we must 
have depended on the chance of a Government train, which 
might go in one month or one year. Farther south a regular 
line of stages runs from the end of the Missouri, Kansas and 
Texas Railroad to Fort Concho, Texas, connecting there with 
another line to El Paso, on the Rio Grande ; but at that season 
we preferred a more northern route. Accordingly we turned 
northward from the western part of the Cherokee country, reach- 
ing the Kansas border at Parker, terminus of the Lawrence, 
Leavenworth and Galveston Railroad. The country south of 
there, which will be traversed by the Atlantic and Pacific, is of 
the same general character with that I have described about 
Vinita, consisting of gently rolling prairie, with occasional strips 
of not very good timber and low bottoms, the latter quite rich 
and the prairie of average fertility. One tolerably barren ridge 

431 



432 ON THE BORDEE. 

is found, and then the land improves westward again toward 
the Arkansas. 

A stage company now run daily coaches along the State line 
from Chetopa to the Arkansas River ; and where two years ago 
they ran at will over the prairie, they are now confined three- 
fourths of the way to narrow lanes, fences and improved farms 
multiplying in every direction. The land seemed to improve 
vastly in quality as we got into Montgomery County, as we 
were there upon the fine fertile slope leading down to the Ver- 
digris. Parker is only the nominal terminus of the Lawrence, 
Leavenworth and Galveston road, and looked distressingly dull 
in spring. About a quarter section of cattle-yards and " shoots " 
extend around the depot, and over into the Indian country. 
The town and railroad company have purchased the right of 
herdino; for fifteen miles over the line. At the season of live 
stock exchange the place is exceedingly lively. The citizens 
were just then in a state of extreme disgust at the railroad 
company, averring that the corporation had agreed to make this 
the terminus town, with all the advantages thereunto belonging. 
Afterward they made the real terminus at CofFeyville, three 
miles above, and now a dummy engine merely backs one car 
down to Parker on a switch. Two fine hotels are shut up, and 
one third-class hasherie de Kansaise poisons the unfortunates 
like us, who wander in from the south. 

CofFeyville is only a little better satisfied. The old town 
happened to be just three-quarters of a mile away from where 
the company concluded to put the terminus, and already New 
CofFeyville has grown into a lively business town of a thousand 
or more people. The three cities, in a line of three miles, are 
moving for a consolidation. Meanwhile the railroad has pro- 
jected and built a branch from Cherryvale, twenty miles north, 
out west to Independence, the county seat, and that is now 
freely spoken of as the real terminus. It reminds me slightly 
of some matters I have known on the Union Pacific Rail- 
road. 

Four years before, there were some twenty farms located ia . 
Montgomery County, and one post-office. The county, in 1872, 



ON THE KANSAS PACIFIC. 433 

cast a vote of 3000, from which, according to the general ratio 
in Kansas, they argued a popuUition of 12,000 ; and there is 
not a valuable quarter section of land in the county witliout a 
family or a claimant on it. The first man to settle in the county 
Avas a fearfully black and greasy negro, who lives just out of 
Coffeyville, on his original claim, and when interviewed on the 
rapid growth around him is too much overcome to give a con- 
nected account. Visitors tell me that along the State-line Road, 
westward, to the Arkansas, every quarter section has an occu- 
pant; that Cowley, the new county on that river, is about full ; 
and that the stream of emigration has turned a little, and is 
now flowing up the Arkansas and to the northwest. 

Thence northward to Kansas City, stopping at various places 
on the road, the Kansians thus summed up the changes since 
M'e left: "Fine chance o' corn planted an' doin' well — splendid 
])rospect for fruit — peaches sure of a whalin' crop; but wheat 
don't look well. In fact that crop a'n't a certain thing yet in 
Southern Kansas. Grarden spot o' the world, sir, no doubt of 
it; but wheat h'ain't made a sure thing yet." 

At midnight of May 2d, we left the State Line (of Missouri) 
for the long ride across the plains. The hour is inconvenient, 
but this is the only through train. One train leaves in the 
morning, thus enabling the traveller to see Eastern Kansas bv 
daylight ; but it stops at Brookville, some distance west of the 
capital, and waits for the midnight train, when both finish the 
route together. This is done to pass through the buffalo and In- 
dian country in the daytime. The Kansas Pacific is now an old 
road (for the West), its business and facilities increasing steatlilv, 
and in healthy proportion with the development of the western 
interior. Its running rate is a very little less than that of the 
Union Pacific, but in all other respects, whether of smoothness, 
comfort, or elegant appliances, it seems to me to fully equal the 
former road. 

Before noon of our first day out I see no signs of a different 

country from that on the eastern border ; timber is plenty along 

the streams, the soil appears rich, and a continuous line of 

farms borders the road. We are in the valley of the Kaw or 

28 



434 ox THE BORDER. 

Kansas, until nearly noon ; then leave it for the Smoky Hill 
Valley, after crossinj^ Republican, Big Blue and Solomon's 
Fork. All these "rivers" furnish about enough water to make 
a stream like the Miami at a moderate stage. But they have 
■wide and fertile valleys, carrying the limit of cultivable land at 
least a hundred miles west of its border on the upland, away 
from the streams. 

May 3. — Daylight found us near Junction City, the last 
})oint of connection with any Eastern road. From that point, 
the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas runs southwest, and down the 
Neosho Valley, to Parsons, in Southern Kansas. 

The railroad system of Kansas may be said to develop north 
and south from the Kansas Pacific as a main stem. The Mis- 
souri River and Fort Scott road traversing the eastern tier of 
counties, the L. L. & G., the second tier, and the M. K. & T., 
diagonally from the fourth to the first tier, the northern coun- 
ties having a very similar system; it will be seen that the rail- 
roads in Kansas are disposed to the best possible advantage. 
It is a question if the assembled wisdom of railroad men through- 
out the Union could have devised a plan to build the same 
number of miles of road, and have them more judiciously dis- 
tributed. There is not a town or considerable farming district 
within a hundred miles of the eastern border, from which one 
cannot reach St. Louis within forty-eight hours or less. We 
find the country pretty well settled for fifty miles west of Junc- 
tion City, with every appearance of natural fertility ; prairies 
of rich green, considerable bodies of timber, and a black, loose 
soil wherever the sod is turned. We take breakfast at Ells- 
worth — a good one, too. When I was out here in October, 
1867, Ellsworth was the terminus of the road — also the ter- 
minus of something like a hundred or two of human lives. 

" Shall we have a man for breakfast ? " was the morning 
salutation; and rarely was it answered in the negative. Ells- 
worth was the hardest of all hard towns which flourished for a 
day at the end of the railroad. Mr. J. H. Runkle, then Prose- 
cutor for the District, informed me, that for ninety-three days, 
there was at least one homicide a day in the town or vicinity. 



DIED IX THEIR BOOTS. 



43i 



And yet in Ellsworth, as in Cheyenne in its wicked days, in Lara- 
mie, or any other border town, a man wiio had a legitimate busi- 
ness, and did not drink or gamble, was as safe, for the most part, 
as in New York. Few take interest enough in the "Statistics 
of Crime" to inquire what becomes of those who are known as 
"roughs" on these Western roads. With very rare exceptions 
they die young, and die by violence. A new supply is being 
constantly created, or the class would soon become extinct. 
From facts within my own observation, I deduce the rule, that 
the average life of the Western 
"rough," after he becomes 
known and established as a 
"rough," is only four years! 
Where are " Wild Bill," and 
"Jack Slade," and "Long 
Steve," "Tom Smith," of 
Bear River, "Dad Cunning- 
ham," and their compeers so 
noted only five years since? 
And where will be "Wild 
Bill," and " Tiger Bill," " Brad. 
Collins," and most of their co7i- 
frh^es, in five years more? In 
the company of the noted 
financier, who invented the 
purase, "Where the woodbine 
twineth;" or, it will be said 
in Western dialect, "They 

died in their Boots." Ellsworth is quiet enough now. It has 
settled into a good, old-fashioned country town, of perhaps a 
thousand people, extensively engaged in the cattle trade. 

We are rapidly running out of civilization, but occasional 
farms continue to about the two hundredth and fiftieth mile- 
post (from State Line), then disappear ; and evidences multiply 
rapidly that we are on the " plains." The whole country, how- 
ever, is of a beautiful green, and the grass appears as good as 
farther east. 




MAN FOR BREAKFAST." 



436 THE GREAT PASTURE. 

Our route tliid afternoon and to-night is through the " Big 
Pasture" of America. It extends from latitude 52°, in British 
America, to Texas, and has an average width of 250 miles, 
spreading eastward from the base of the Rocky Mountains. Say 
in round numbers, 1200 by 250 miles, and we have an area of 
300,000 square miles, set apart by nature forever, as our great 
national park and pasture. Not one-twentieth of this area can 
be settled and cultivated under any mode of farming now known 
in America. It is too high and dry, and the nights are cool 
enough to insure some frost nearly every month in the year. At 
the same time it produces the sweetest and most nutritious of 
grasses. 

. More range is required here than in eastern pastures for the 
same number of stock, for the grass does not renew itself the 
same season, as it does there; but still here is room for the 
development of incalculable wealth in flocks and herds. If 
the reader will take a board, four times as long as it is 
wide, lay it north and south, and tilt it a very little towards the 
east, then score it from east to west M'ith a number of furrows, 
he will have a tolerable map or miniature co}>y of what is 
called the " plains." The western border, the high plateau near 
the mountains, has an average elevation of 5000 feet; thence 
eastward the general slope will average ten feet to the mile ; so, 
by the time we reach the settled portions of Kansas and Ne- 
braska, we are but 1000 feet or so above sea-level. Going 
westward you are going uphill and nearer mountains and deserts; 
consequently into a dryer and colder country, and finally into a 
region fit for nothing but pasturage. But the notion once indus- 
triously circulated, that cattle could be wintered here without 
feeding, is now abandoned. Last winter pretty effectually set it 
at rest. 

We hurry on, and soon after noon enter the buffalo country. 
We see but a few live ones, for it is too early for their great 
move northward ; but whole catacombs of the dead. For twenty 
miles in one place, the sight is awful. Whole herds died here 
during the heavy snow of last winter. As far as the eye can 
reach, or as a good field-glass can sweep the horizon, they lie at 



THE BISOX. 



437 




IN THE BUFFALO COUNTRY. 



intervals of eiglit or ten rods apart, and in every stage of decay. 
Some appear just as tliey fell, almost entirely preserved — mum- 
mified as it were by the dry air. Others have shrunk to small 
compass with the hide still entire, and others — by far the larger 
number — are- picked and licked to clean white skeletons by the 
wolves. The sight is sad, and sickening. About the stations 
the skins are piled in great heaps to dry for market, not so bad 
to the sight as the other, but worse to the smell. This region 
of dead buffaloes extends from first to last, some eighty miles, 
traversing which we saw many thousand of their carcasses. 

The first live specimen was a straggler, which the locomotive 
started out of a circular hollow. He continued on the full run 
as long as we could see him — an ungainly beast. Tiie cry of 
" buffalo" was followed by a general rush of' Pilgrims" to the 
windows; next came an antelope, then prairie dogs, and our 
palace car company resembled rather a district school at a 
menagerie than anything else. We were soon in the buffalo 
country proper, and occasionally saw small groups of them at a 



438 DENVER. 

distance feeding. The heat had grown op])ressive, the country 
looked dry, and the grass had completely changed. Verdure, as 
farther east, was rarely seen ; the growth was butfalo grass and 
gania grass, short and wiry, but very sweet and nutritious. 

Darkness comes over us, still fifty miles from the border of 
Colorado. 

May 4th. — We reach Denver at 7.20 A. m., and hasten to 
the Broadwell House, where we are beset by newsboys with the 
cry: "Here's your Rocky Mountain. News — latest from Cincinnati 
— Horace Greeley for President." This was news to us, for pas- 
sengers across the plains lose one day's dispatches en route. The 
usual political discussions enlivened the breakfast room. Eastern 
arrivals were much excited about it, but the Denverites 
appeared quite indifferent. Colorado cannot vote for President, 
although she has made three several and earnest attempts to 
" take her place," etc. (The quotation is so old everybody can 
finish it.) In fact. Congress did admit her once, but Andrew 
Johnson vetoed her, creating a fearful mortality of incipient 
Congressmen and State officials. 

Byers' Roeky Mountain News (the paper is scarcely heard of 
as dissociated with Byers) is the institution of Colorado. It has 
survived fires, floods, Indian blockades and Federal patronage, 
and survives to tell us every morning at breakfast all of note 
that has ti'anspired in any part of the world down to the mid- 
night preceding. It is, indeed, a monument of enterprise, 
whereby no disparagement whatever is meant for other journals 
here. It is one of the "curiosities of literature" with nie, how 
these mountain towns can support the papers they do. Here is 
Denver, with ten thousand people, and three dailies. The Ter- 
ritory has six dailies, and some weeklies, with fifty or sixty 
thousand people. Little Corinne, Utah, with some fifteen hun- 
dred people, has kept up a vigorous daily for two years and a 
half. " It's a wonder how they do it, but they do." 

May 5th. — I find myself totally mistaken as to the location 
of Denver. I had always heard it was in the mountains, and 
supposed we ran across one chain before reaching here, and into 
a sort of basin. On the contrary, Denver is " on the plains," 



.-.on '■^ " i'^"'" ' 




439 



440 



MOUNTAIN TOWNS. 




^^f=i^V<-"~-*l 



gray's peak— COLORADO. 

ciglitetMi or twenty miles east of the mountains, though they 
extend half way around it on the south, leaving it in a broad 
valley, slo])ing toward the north. 

Take half of a wagon-wheel ; imagine eaeh of the spokes a 
pass, leading up southwest or northwest, through the. mountains 
to some mining region, and you will have a tolerable idea of 
Denver and its tributaries. From this place as a center, first- 
cla.ss turnpikes lead .up to Georgetown, Central City, Black- 
hawk, Boulder, and a dozen mountain towns of less note; and 
narrow-o;ua£re railroads are beinsc constructed to the most im- 
porta nt. 

Denver has a beautiful location on the slope at the junction 
of Cherry Creek and the Platte River. Both are mere rivulets 
now, but they occasionally get up in a way that's rather fright- 
ful. In 1864 a freshet took away nearly all of the town as it 
then stood, and the people afterwards built a little farther up 
the slope. The city is an agreeable surprise to me. I had heard 
so often and so long, in Salt Lake City, that that was the only 
really beautiful city in the mountains, that it had become a part 
of my creed, as a man will sometimes absorb without question 
what he hears reiterated for years. But now I incline to think 



INTELLIGENT DENVEEITES. 441 

I slioukl prefer Denver, on the score of beauty alone. The 
advantage of Salt Lake City is that it is twice as old, and its 
shade trees, shrubbery and the like have had more time to 
grow. But here we find bright irrigating streams, fine gardens, 
shade trees, grass plats and many fine residences. In the last 
respect this far exceeds Salt Lake. But the noticeable point of 
difference is in churches, school-houses and daily papers. In 
the two former Denver will compare favorably with any Eastern 
city of its size, and in papers exceed most of them. A hundred 
little matters illustrate, in a marked degree, the difference be- 
tween this progressive, homogeneous people and that of the 
JMormon Capital. At the Post Office, of an evening, one finds 
almost the population of an average Western city, and has to 
"take his turn" after long waiting. At Salt Lake I never saw 
a crowd at the delivery large enough to be troublesome. From 
the best data at hand, I think this office gives out three times 
as much mail as that at Salt Lake. Here are a people who read 
and write, think and question, deliberate, examine and come to 
a conclusion : there a people who oj)en their mouths and swallow 
what the shepherd gives them; obey their Bishop like good 
children; believe the whole outside world to be doomed, and, 
therefore, don't want to write to, or hear from them. 

May 6th. — Three days at Denver convinced me that it was 
quite a place. But why should a journalist, looking for new 
fields, stop long at Denver? Is not its history and marvelous 
growth written in chronicles of every Western rambler for the 
past ten years ? And have not Greeley, Richardson, Bowles, 
McClure and a score of lesser lights, exhausted the resources of 
the dictionary, in trying to tell the simple truth about its present 
greatness and certain future? I can only adopt the plan of the 
conveniently pious young man, who wrote an elaborate prayer, 
jK)sted it at the head of his bed, and when ready to turn in, 
pointed at it and said : " Lord, those are my sentiments ! " Now, 
therefore, read again all that the above worthies have said in 
praise of Denver, and "Those are my sentiments." 

I must cut short my stay in Denver, and all on account of 
the weather, which is said to be heating up very fast down 



442 



TROUBLE AHEAD. 




GEORGETOWN — COLORADO. 



where I am going. But when I go to inquire about route and 
expenses, thtnigli I thought I knew something about higli 
tariffs in the West, the intelligence nearly takes my breath. 

The distance is four hundred and fifteen miles, ninety of 
which we go by rail, the rest by stage. Fare by rail ten cents 
per mile, by stage twenty cents : total to Sante Fe, seventy-i'our 
dollars, with a dollar a meal on the road. Moral : Don't go to 
Sante Fe, unless you have important business. From what I 
hear the rates are still higher to where I wish to go in Arizona, 
with the comfort added, however, that in all probability I can- 
not get there at al', as three drivers have just lately been killed 
by the Indians. 

Different j)arties are organizing with a view of going through 
the center of Arizona and New Mexico, from Sante Fe to Fort 
Prescott ; but all I consult liere shake their heads doubtfully 
on the subject. However, I have generally observed in travel- 
ing that dangers lessen as one draws near them ; so I will go 
down and hear what the " Greasers " say on the matter. 



" 'tis sad to part. 443 

May 7tli. — At 7.30 a. m. I boarded the cars of the narrow 
gauge Denver and Rio Grande R. R. — familiarly known here 
as the " Narrow Gouge,^' in delicate satire on its rates of fare. 
Ten cents a mile does look a little steep for a railroad, but con- 
sider, that before this was built the tariff was twenty cents a mile 
by stage; that the road is not assisted by grants or subsidies; 
that the amount of travel is too small as yet to pay expenses, 
and that the question is, whether you are willing to pay half 
stage fare for the luxury of a car, or go back to the old style. 
I only wish I could go all the way to Santa Fe by such car- 
riage, for I do dread the three hundred and twenty-five miles 
of stag:! ng^. 

At the last moment, Mr. De Bruler decided not to accom- 
pany me; principally because I did not know exactly where I 
was going myself. That the thirty-fifth parallel road ran 
through northern Arizona we guessed from the map ; but whether 
through the Apache Country, and whether safe or the reverse 
we could not learn ; nor whether I could go through at all. So 
my journalistic companion shook my hand warmly, and with 
empressement thus pronounced: "Go, Beadle; in the interests 
of science, and for the honor of the profession. You can risk 
the savages; old bachelors don't amount to much anyhow. But 
I — I have a, family." It was too touching ; I dashed the saline 
globules from my cheeks, and scooted for the depot. He wan- 
dered briefly in Colorado, then returned to the bosom of his 
family and the editorial columns of the Cincinnati Times and 
Chronicle; thence he has transferred his brains to the sanc- 
tum of the Evansville Journal, where he flourishes like a green- 
bay horse. 

I return to my journal. We journey at a sobre passo gait of 
ten or fifteen miles an hour, southward and up the Platte Val- 
ley, which has the appearance of an old, settled and cultivated 
country. The farm-houses appear to me in much better style, 
and the system of irrigation more scientific than in Utah. 
Farmers are plowing, and the spring crops are counng forward 
finely. Colorado wheat promises well this year. It is con- 
sidered settled here that it is the best wheat in the world. In 



444 SHEEP KEGION. 

Denver, Colorado flour is $14.00 per barrel, while "State 
flour" is only $10.00. About 10 A. M., we leave the Platte 
and follow up a small stream to the *' Divide." Here we 
are in the lumber region, as shown by the immense stacks of 
the same about the depots. Singularly enough, near the "Di- 
vide," on both sides are considerable fields cultivated without 
irrigation, there being sufficient rain when one draws near the 
summit and the timber! The timber causes the rain, or the 
rain produces the timber, or the mountains are the cause of 
both ; or some other sufficient cause accounts for all three, I 
don't know which. If this theory is not scientifically correct, 
Qitien sabe f 

As soon as we pass the summit and get on the head-waters 
of the Fontaine Que Bouille, we see on all the slopes immense 
herds of cattle and sheep. At Colorado Springs lives one man 
who has 13,000 sheep in this region ; and I am reliably in- 
formed there are 150,000 head of stock in the system of val- 
leys opening out on this stream. The country is evidently one 
of the best in the world for sheep. It is higii, dry, cool in 
summer, and not very cold in winter, with just moisture enough 
to produce good grass. For about fifty miles we traverse a 
beautiful grazing region. At the Springs we stop an hour for 
dinner. Here is one of the coming towns of Colorado, having 
a fine fertile valley, immense grazing area, and the noted 
chemical springs — already a great place of fashionable resort. 

I am most agreeably surprised by southern Colorado, There 
is very little desert, and except the bare mountains it appears 
to me a country of great natural richness. The valleys are 
very fertile, and most of the slopes furnish good pasturage. 

The railroad terminates at little Buttes, ninety miles from 
Denver; and there we take the stage. Nineteen passengers go 
on to Pueblo, which we reach some time after dark, and all 
stop there except Captain H. H. Humphreys, of the Fifteenth 
United States Infantry, his wife, his servant, and the subscriber. 
I am the only through passenger, the others go to Fort Union, 
New Mexico, and we travel together some forty hours. A night 
ride in a coach is not a subject for poetry. Ours is as com- 
fortable as the average. 



PLEASANT SCHOOLING. 



445 




May 8th. — We breakfast at Cocharas, an old style Mexican 
hacienda, in a beautiful circular valley, seventy miles from 
Little Buttes. I am still fresh as at starting, and make havoc 
among the wheaten-cakes, fried eggs and chopped and stewed 
mutton, which, with coffee, constitute our breakfast: calle<l 
here, however, tortillas, huevos, came and cafe respectively. A 
plump and pretty sefiorita sits by, and gives me my first lesson 
in Spanish, with a pleasing variety of smiles and graceful 
gestures. She is a most persistent 
teacher, and will not rest till I have 
learnt the name of everything at and 
on the table, beginning with myself! 
I am un Americano, also un caballero, 
she ventures to hope, with a pleas- 
ing smile, that makes me perfectly 
willing to be anything she wants me 
to; and when neither of these, I am 
simply un hombre, "a man." The 
knife I eat with is uno cuchillo, as 
she writes it in my book ; but by 

some lingual gymnastics they pronounce it coo-cJice-o. My 
chair is una cilia {see-a), my head is cabeza (cah-bayza), and she 
wonders I have not mal de cabeza from a night's ride en el car- 
roza ; my eyes are log ojos (o-hose), the table is la mesa (inay-sa), 
and she hopes we may part amigos. 

" 'T is pleasant to be schooled in a strange tongue 

By female lips and eyes ; that is, I mean, 
When both the teacher and the taught are young, 

As was the case at times where I have been." 

We are off for another day's ride, with the celebrated "Fat 
Jack" for driver. Ten years before "Fat Jack" lived on 
Dayton Street, Cincinnati, and might have traveled as the 
"Original living Skeleton." Some unnameable and wasting 
disease had reduced him to less than ninety pounds weigiit. 
He started West, began to improve, reached New Mexico, and 
went to driving stage, and now weighs two hundred ! He is 
five feet four inches high, and four feet two inches around the 



FIRST LESSON IN SPANISH. 



44G PASSAGE OF THE EATON. 

Maist. My essay at Spanish amused hira, and he told rae, 
when I reached Santa Fe, to procure at once una diccionaria 
(Jormiente — "a sleeping dictionary;" but as he accompanied 
the remark with a fearful facial contortion, and a poke in my 
side that nearly dislocated a rib, I take it he meant a joke, 
though I cannot inmgine where the point is. 

The morning air is quite cool, but the afternoon warm and 
pleasant. The scenery is grand. To our right are the Spanish 
Peaks, in front Fisher's Peak, of the Raton Mountains ; both 
glistening white with snow. The last named looks as if it were 
about five miles distant. It is fifteen miles in a straight line — 
measured by the U. S. Engineers — from the hotel in Trinidad, 
at the base of the mountains ; and we are yet four miles from 
Trinidad. We reach that place, the last town in Colorado, at 
4 p. M., rest an hour, take su])per and change to a small, stout 
uncomfortable coach, in whi(;h to make the passage of the Raton. 
AVe reach the summit just at dark, and have a fearful run down 
the southern side. Fortunately we cannot see the danger, if 
there is any ; and have nothing to do but bounce about in the 
dark inside the coach, butt each other's heads, shift ballast to 
suit the i)itching of the coach, and enjoy ourselves generally. 
About midnight the jolting ceases, and the gentler motion in- 
dicates that we have come out into a smooth valley and on to a 
good natural road. We compose ourselves, hang to the straps 
and get two or three hours tolerable sleep. 

May 9th. — About 3 o'clock this morning, we are roused by 
the driver with notice that an important bridge has been washed 
away, leaving only a foot-log, on which the passengers cross 
while the coach makes a circuit of some miles. Our party of 
four were soon on the banks of the stream, and, by the light 
of a lam[), saw a fearful gorge, crossed by one narrow log, while 
fifteen feet below ran a stream strong enough to wash us out 
of sight in ten seconds. Three sets of passengers had already 
crossed on that little foot-log, round and slippery as it was, but 
none of us would venture on it. While the driver threw the 
lamp glare on the log, and our party stood huddled together 
gazing into the awful chasm, like a lot of departed sinners upon 



ON TUE CIMARRON. 447 

the River Styx, I noticed that the banks were not too steep for 
descent, and so climbed down by the aid of rocks and bushes, 
to the water's edge. The other male passenger soon followed, 
and we found enough of the ruins to construct a half floating 
bridge. An hour's labor, with the driver kneeling on the log 
above to light us to onr work, made a bridge on which the 
ladies succeeded in being helped across with fewer screams than 
could have been expected. A short walk brought us to the 
next station, where the coach overtook us in an hour. 

Daylight finds us at Maxwell's Ranchc, or Cimarron City, at 
the crossing of Cimarron River — a hundred and seventy miles 
from where we took stage, and still a hundred and fifty-five 
miles from Santa Fe. The night has told heavily on us, and 
we begin to lose interest in external things. The two ladies 
complain of their heads; the captain and I are principally con- 
cerned about our stomachs. 

All this morning the wind blew a small hurricane, and after 
noon we had a chilly rain to complete our misery. We break- 
fast at Maxwell's, the center of an old Mexican grant of several 
hundred thousand acres, for many years the property of a 
noted mountaineer by tiie name of Maxwell. The grant contains 
fifty or sixty sections of the finest land in New Mexico, several 
good locations for water-power, and one rich gold mine. Max- 
well has lately sold it to an English company, who are bring- 
ing in machinery to work the gold mine, and propose to im- 
prove the entire grant. 

An hour's rest and a pint of hot coffee restored my intellec- 
tual balance somewhat; and I entered upon the third day of 
staging with more vigor than I had expected. 
■' At Fort Union my three companions got out, and a young 
German got in to go to Santa Fe. We had traveled the last 
twelve hours in a southeast direction, leaving the main chain 
of mountains some distance to the west, and crossing the Rayado, 
Ocate and other tributaries of the Canadian. The old trail 
runs southwest from Huerfano to Fort Garland, crossing over 
to the headquarters of the Rio Grande ; but the stage road con- 
tinues on this line to Las Vegas, before turning westward. Las 



448 ENTERING SANTA FE. 

Vegas is a little south of Santa Fe, on tlie extreme liead waters 
of the Pecos River. Tliat city, which we reached at dark, dates 
away back to the first Spanish invasion, and has a population 
of three or four thousand. There we took on three United 
States officers, and the Right Reverend John B. Laniye, Bishop 
of Santa Fe, who exerted himself to cheer up the heavy hours 
of the night, as our coacH labored through the mountain passes 
down to Santa Fe River. The cold was intense, and by the 
morning light we saw that a heavy snow had fallen. 

May 10th. — The fourth day out, and I begin to be oblivious : 
my head pitches forward and back in involuntary "cat-naps" 
of a minute each, and I long for port. After four hours riding 
down hill, by 10 o'clock in the morning the snow had disap- 
peared ; once more nature asserted herself, and I was really 
feeling bright again \vhen we came in sight of Santa Fe. In 
all my travels I never remember being so disappointed. One 
might pass within two miles of the city and miss it. It is not 
in the Rio Grande Valley, as I had supposed, but at least 
twenty miles from that river, quite in a hollow; and appears a 
miserable, low, flat collection of mud huts. Whole squares are 
walled in with stones, mud and adobes; then the width of a 
liouse roofed around the square on the inside; partition walls 
are built, passages cut through, and a score of dwellings in one 
group are complete. As the coach rolls through the narrow, 
ugly streets, it looks more like driving through a dirt cut in 
some excavation than the streets of a city. As we near the 
center of town these squares seem more compact; holes appear 
to have been cut through, making shut alleys or narrow streets, 
and other openings show the interior of these mud-walled 
squares to be a sort of stamping ground in common, for pigs, 
chickens, jackasses, children, ugly old women, and " Greasers." 

Reaching the plaza, things look a little better. There at 
least is a ])atch of green, a tract grown up in alfalfa or Spanish 
clover. We stop at the Exchange, the only hotel in the city 
for white men, or rather Americans, the other distinction, though 
perfectly accurate, not being well relished here. The Exchange 
is a one-story square, like all the rest ; but across the middle 



IN A FIX. 449 

of the square is a line of buildings containing the dining-room 
and kitchen, and dividing the stable yard and poultry run from 
the open court for human use. An arched way between the 
kitchen and dining-room connects the two courts ; on the human 
iiide women and children take their recreations, and men of 
quiet or literary tastes can sit and read ; while the stable side is 
sacred to dog-fights, cock-fights, wrestling matches, pitching 
Mexican dollars, and other exclusively manly pursuits. The 
people of Santa Fe evidently do not take in their philosophy 
the statement that " Man was made to mourn." 

At the Exchange I left the coach, feeling almost comfortable ; 
but no sooner did I touch the pavement than the earth com- 
menced such a rocking that I walked only in circles and ellipses, 
traveling at least two rods in advancing ten feet. I shivered 
^vith cold, and my head and face were scorched with heat. I 
was desperately sea-sick. Grasping the casing I got in at the 
door, and felt my way to the lounge near the stove, for, though 
it was bright sunshine, the weather was cold. I sank on the 
lounge and in five seconds was oblivious. In two hours I 
awoke with tiie delirium tremens. Seriously, though I had not 
tasted liquor for months, I had all the premonitory symptoms 
of that terrible disease. The figures on the wall scowled at 
me; the illuminated Saint over the mantel looked sick at rny 
prospects; and a great grinning demon, top-ornament to an old 
Spanish wall-sweep clock, seemed to snap his fingers and 
wriggle with delight at my misery. I had sense enough left 
to know I should lose my senses if this thing continued long, 
so I took to the street again. But there everything was un- 
settled. The distant mountains wabbled, the houses were turn- 
ing topsy-turvy, " Greasers " grinning and rolling apj)arently 
in every direction, while the ficfioritas seemed to go sideways or 
on their heads, waltzing along the narrow streets in most im- 
moral attitudes. Worst of all was a horrible feeling about my 
stomach, as if millions of insects were crawling from there up 
to my head ; and a sensation of pitching backward and forward, 
feeling as if my head were unscrewed, loose, and liable at any 
moment to be jerked off. 
29 



450 



DELIEIUM TREMENS. 



I was put to bed and a doctor sent for. The old Mexican M. D. 
(I should say these words in his case stood for " miserable devil ") 
came, felt my pulse, temples and feet, grunted professionally, and 

made his diagnosis in these words : 
"Caraja! Trcs dies y noclies en 
cctrroza ! Mai de cabeza y desar- 
reglio de los nervios!" I as- 
sented, and he gave me twenty 
drops of laudanum as a starter, 
followed every hour or so by 
belladonna, hyosciamus, et aL 
At dark I went to sleep, slept 
eleven hours without waking, and 
next day was all right. Moral : 
Don't try to go eighty hours with 
only nine hours' sleep, if you have 
a sensitive nervous system; for 
^ if you do, you are likely to make 
the acquaintance of "the man 
with the poker " without the fun 
of the preparatory sprees. 

I was "in port" for a while, 
after going fourteen hundred 
miles around the three sides of an immense parallelogram to 
come on the thirty-fifth parallel line again, to wit : from Indian 
Territory to Kansas City north, thence to Denver west, and 
thence to Santa Fe south. 




" CAKAJA ! LOS NERVIOS ! " 




CHAPTER XXIII. 

SANTA FE DE SAN FRANCISCO. 

First impressions — Location of the city — U. S. officials — Learning Spanish — Th« 
Baile — Valse da Spachio — Mexican Law — Religion — Children — Dark vs. 
white races— Mexican transportation — Historical — Remarkable journey of De 
Vaca and his companions — Expedition of Coronado — " The seven cities of 
Cibola" ! — " The American occupation " — Query. 

ANTA FE DE SAN FRANCISCO— so the old Span- 
iards named it — is a high old city : seven thousand feet 
high, and two hundred and fifty years old. A dry, 
hard, worn out, and most uninviting place, too, it ap- 
pears to me ; but any place with water, shade and beds 
is a haven to me since my stage trip from Colorado. That was 
an experience I hope never to repeat ; for, if I have so long a 
trip hereafter, I shall divide it into sections of a hundred miles 
or so each. 

Santa Fe has been a city inhabited by white men for two 
hundred and fifty years ; and nobody knows how long before by 
Pueblo Indians, one of their old cities, or the ruins of it, being 
partly on the same site. In the latitude of Memphis, it has a 
summer climate cooler than that of Canada, and that of 1872 
was an exceptionally cold spring. Except from 10 o'clock till 4, 
fires were agreeable in the hotel, and heavy bedclothes were in 
order with me. A suit of summer clothing is rarely seen in 
Santa Fe. There are not ten days in the year when they are 
really needed. The winters are mild and dry ; snow rarely 
falls, and the range of the thermometer is about equal to 
that of Washington City. The city is in the narrow valley 
of Santa Fe River, on a gentle slope, seven thousand feet 
above sea-level. Just northeast of the city, though thirty miles 

451 



4.52 



BAD LOCATION. 











EAST SIDE OF PLAZA— SANTA FE. 

distant, "Old Baldy," a mountain peak, rises five thousand feet 
higher, its summit covered with snow ten months in the year. 
The climate is claimed to be the finest in America, and unques- 
tionably it is the most even and least liable to sudden changes ; 
but to me it seemed a little too cool in May. All this was a 
surprise, as I had somehow got the idea Santa Fe was in a hot 
climate. For incipient pulmonary complaints it is the best 
obtainable; those in advanced stages of consumption die very 
suddenly hero. 

The town is totally unlike what I expected. It is poor and 
meanly built of one-story mud huts, the whole place covering 
perhaps eighty acres. It is in a narrow side valley, completely 
out of the range of any through line of railroad ; the Thirty -fifth 
Parallel road must run some distance south of it, and I question 
very much if either of the roads from Colorado will touch it. 



"dry!" 453 

In fact, any road to reach Santa Fe must really run past it, and 
then turn back up the side valley to come at it. 

The streets and walls are inexpressibly dreary; the dwellings 
low, flat and uninviting. I don't think there are twenty two- 
story houses in the city. The residences of some of the officials 
display a little taste; two or three of the merchants have houses 
with pretty surroundings, and Bishop Lamy^ has a place which 
would almost be considered pretty in Ohio. I saw perhaps a 
dozen garden*; all the rest of the view is bare, gray and dried 
mud color. As I stood of an evening on the hill above town, 
and looked on the mean and dirty streets, filled with donkeys 
carrying hay and wood in Mexican fashion, and saw the gangs 
of natives swarming among their mud walls, and the lifeless 
looking women squatted in the open courts, I could but ask : 
Is this the Santa Fe of which I have heard and read since 
childhood ? The place where the Missouri traders used to go, 
in those long caravans which furnished subjects of brilliant 
illustrations in our story books; where they sold millions in 
goods and brought back riches beyond estimate? If this is the 
place, it has sadly changed. There are not fifty houses there 
that would be allowed to stand a day in Cincinnati. They say 
they have a population of six thousand, but I don't see Avhere 
they put them. Perhaps these mysterious hollow squares, with 
so many dark holes and corners, are more densely populated 
than I imagine possible. And yet here are old withered Mexi- 
cans, native to the place, whose fathers and grandfathers were 
born, lived and died in this valley; for Santa Fe was a noted 
Spanish city one hundred years before our John Cleves Symmes 
crossed the Ohio. Yes, Santa Fe has one merit — it is rich in 
historic interest. 

The number of whites not of Spanish origin is estimated at 
five hundred. At the last election three hundred non-Mexican 
whites voted, and as there are some twenty families with many 
boarders and servants, the total 'number is put as stated. Of 
these the officials and their families constitute the first division. 
Until I made their acquaintance I felt somewhat lost, for after 
the novelty wears off, Santa Fe is but a dull place. 



454 OFFICIALS. 

Governor Marsh Giddings, appointed from Michigan, entered 
upon his duties in August, 1871. I found him a most pleasant 
gentleman, though the " opposition " are just now attacking 
him fiercely for his activity in the movement for a State organi- 
zation. 

United States District Attorney T. B. Catron is from INIis- 
souri, and a fluent speaker, both in English and Spanish. Hon. 
Henry Wetter was then Secretary, though another has suc- 
ceeded. Joseph G. Palen, Chief Justice, also came in for a 
heavy share of abuse from the opposition. Associate Justice 
Hezekiah S. Johnson is a resident of Albuquerque. The other 
Justice's place was vacant, Judge Bristol, of Minnesota, having 
beSu appointed but not yet entered the Territory. The other 
offices are filled by Mexicans, and it is a source of wonder to me 
that there is so little conflict of jurisdiction here, with all these 
difterences of race and religion. New Mexico is politically the 
most quiet of all the Territories, and instead of the ever- 
recurring religious squabbles of Utah, or the internecine strifes 
of Dakota, these people seem always satisfied with what the 
officials do, if it is within a hundred degrees of right. They 
consider a Governor as only one remove below the Deity ; or, 
rather two removes, the Virgin Mary coming next, and the 
Governor being about on the same degree with St. Peter. To 
one like myself, accustomed to the studied contempt, or lordly 
indifference, or good-natured and irreverent bonhommie, with 
which Territorial Governors are regarded, respectively in 
Utah, Colorado and Dakota, it was something amusing to 
witness old, gray-headed men, with hat removed, bowing low to 
Governor Giddings, and to hear the sefioras direct their chil- 
dren as he passed, ^' No hable uste tanto. El Gobernndor !" 
All these people, no matter of what rank, are excessively 
polite. 

General Gordon Granger, commanding this department, re- 
sides here, and with the officers on duty, adds not a little to the 
American society. Attached to headquarters is one of the finest 
bands I ever listened to, which plays in the ])laza every after- 
noon, furnishing the Santa Fe public with a splendid musical 



"hay baile." 455 

entertainment, and with all these helps, life after a few days 
did not seem to me quite so insupportable as at first. 

Next to tlie officials come the merchants, nearly all of whom 
are Jews. There are ten extensive firms here, and last year a 
million dollars worth of goods were sold. Besides these, there 
are clerks, agents of two stage companies, two hotel keepers, 
and perhaps fifty "floaters," making up the American poj)ula- 
tion. I Avas pleased to meet there Major Nash, formerly of 
Cincinnati, but now chief commissary of this department, who 
took me in and did me good. 

But my acquaintance in Santa Fe was of quite a miscellane- 
ous character — "from the duke to the dustman." I took a 
Spanish teacher (male), and the third day of my studies "inter- 
viewed" him thus : 

''Hay baile est a noche, Senor !^^ 

" Si, Senor, quiere uste avenir ? Hahra Senoritas bonitas." 

" J^so quisiera yo." 

The result of this attempt at Castilian was a visit to that 
evening's baile (by-lay), or Mexican dance. Americans impro- 
perly call them fandangoes, applying the name of one kind of 
dance to the whole proceeding — as if one should call an Ameri- 
can ball a " schottische." They are the national amusement. 
All new-comers of importance are welcomed with a jniblic ball, 
and all public enterprises are inaugurated and ended by the 
same. 

Scene: A long room, wide enough for one cotillion and long 
enough for half a dozen ; a raised platform for a first-class 
string band, and a chair at the other end for la maestra (femin- 
ine) of ceremonies, with seats ranged against the wall for fifty 
or a hundred spectators. The Mexican girls are exceedingly 
graceful, with very small hands and feet and most enchanting 
voices; but their features are not handsome, being dark, in the 
first place, besides having an indescribable something which I 
imagine I can see in all dark races, and which, for want of a 
term, I call dormant tigerishness. As dancers they cannot be 
excelled. They never have the set "called," as in the States, 
dancing being too much a lifetime affair with them — something 



456 



DANCES. 




AT THE BAILE. 



they learn as soon as they can walk. Their cotillions are 
very complicated. The common waltz, about thcrsame as ours, 
is known as the Valse Redondo. But the National dance — tlie 
one which shows the Mexican woman to the best advantage — 
is the Valse de Spachio, which might be translated "slow 
waltz." The music is slow and seemingly mournful, but the 
elegant movement cannot be described. The first figure might 
be called a "waltzing cotillion," ending with two lines, each 
scnorita opposite her partner. Thence she advances toward 
him with a score of graceful gestures — bowlnc:, sinklnir, rising, 
extending hands and again clasping them and retreating, wav- 
ing scarf or handkerchief, and all in perfect time and without 
faulty or ungraceful motion. At length, and apparently fol- 



PUBLIC BALLS. 457 

lowing the motion of the "head lady," the couples come rapidly- 
together, and, as the music breaks suddenly into a lively air, 
are whirled to alj parts of the room in quick gallopade. This 
again subsides, and they waltz back into a sort of hollow square, 
from which each lady in turn issues and makes the circuit of 
the sett in slow waltz, tantalizing different cavaliers with feint 
and retreat. It looks childish on paper, but is enchanting to 
witness. 

There seems to be no distinction at these public balls on the 
score of character. The social indifference on that subject 
would astonish most Americans. If the Stantons, Anthonys, 
etc., are really in earnest in the statement that " woman should 
have no worse stigma than a man for sexual sins," they would 
certainly be gratified here, for the disgrace is, at least, as great 
to one sex as the other. Indeed, I tliink the general judgment 
for marital unfaithfulness is much more severe on a man than 
a woman. The young Americans bring their mistresses to the 
haile with the same indifference the Mexicans do their sweet- 
hearts. These "girls" are scrupulously j)olite, and so unlike 
the same class in the States, that it can only be accounted for 
from the fact that they see no disgrace whatever in their mode 
of life, and feel no sort of social degradation. 

One witnesses no drunkenness, no obscene word or gesture, 
nothing to offend ; and the uniform testimony of the American 
youths is, that they are the most faithful, kind and affectionate 
women of that class in the world. Without chastity, they still 
possess all the other distinctive virtues of the sex. The force 
of an improving public opinion has, in the last five years, 
caused many marriages between such couples, and the civil, or 
old Roman law, prevailing here, legitimates all their issue, no 
matter how old at the time of marriaare. 

Speaking of law, the Mexicans cling tenaciously to all their 
old customs in the administration of justice. They stipulated 
for this at the American occupation, and General Kearney, by 
proclamation, continued all their judicial officers with the same 
code. So the matter grew into a prescription which can not be 
changed ; and as the givil or canon law was in force in all 



458 PARENTAL LAW IN NEW MEXICO. 

Spanish America, it is the common law of New Mexico to-day. 
Under it the power of parents is practically almost without 
limits — no matter what age their offspring may be. A son who 
lives with his mother is subject to her orders always, and the 
alcalde in rural districts is occasionally called upon by a woman 
whose "boy "of twenty-five or thirty has rebelled. In such 
cases the alcalde goes with his constable, arrests the " boy," puts 
a riata into the hands of the mother and bids her lay on until 
the youth roars for mercy. Sometimes a senorita living with 
an American is whipped by her mother for some want of atten- 
tion or proper conduct toward herself or the mari, and though 
he protests, the mother asserts her right. They even claim that 
if a father chose to kill his child, the law would allow it; but 
I am certain no test case could arise, as in general these people 
seem to me the kindest and most indulgent of parents to their 
small children. It is impossible to convey in English an 
adequate idea of the long drawn-out and musical endearatives 
and diminutives in which their language abounds : Povrita mia, 
muy bonita, dulce Huanita, mucha preciosa mucha-chita, (" My 
poor little one, dearest one, my sweet little John, most precious 
little girl "). This climate is said to be the best in the world 
for childhood, and their children are peculiarly bright and 
lively, but not handsome, unless for those who admire dark 
beauty, which I do not. After wandering for hours among the 
narrow streets and adobe squares, when I got into the officials' 
part of the town, the few little American children looked like 
little angels, with their clear blue eyes, soft light hair, and clear 
Saxon complexion. 

Did you ever, as you looked upon a dark face in the street, 
think for a moment what it would be to spend your whole life 
among people of that color? Until I made a long journey 
without sight of a white man I could not appreciate the condi- 
tion of missionaries and captives among dark races, I thought 
only of the physical evils of their lot. But what a wearing 
grief it must in time come to be never to look upon a fair face; 
never to press the soft brown tresses, or feel the touch of a 
pink baby hand ; never to trace the blue veins of a Saxon fiire- 



"pretty squaws." 459 

liead, or hear the sweet music of cliildish English. Keep a 
man among Mexicans or Chinese a few years, and I think lie 
would fall in love with the first white lady he saw. 

*^ Pretty squaws " we often hear of, and I have seen some of 
those called so ; but it was a beauty only in the sense of phy- 
sical proportion. Barbarous people are never really beautiful; 
and where women are freest, there most beauty is found. Our 
ladies are the queens of beauty throughout the world ; and after 
due inspection of a dozen races I conclude : Let others take 
what course they may, but give me an American woman or give 
me death. 

Such blessings at home are like air and sunlight, so common 
that we never think how much of our daily life they make; 
but it seems to me if I had lived a few years exclusively with 
Mexicans or Chinese, I would walk a hundred miles to see and 
talk with a few Saxon children, such as are seen in thousands 
u])on our streets. Yes, we may occasionally feel that the claims 
of civilization bear heavily on us; but it is philosophically as 
well as poetically true : 

" Better fifty years of Europe 
Than a cycle of Cathay." 

I got on famously with my Spanish. My partial friends 
used to tell me that I had "a head for languages," and I am 
confident Spanish can be learned by any one in less than half 
the time required for French or German. Consider these points 
in its favor : no nasals, no gutturals, no silent letter (except, 
perhaps, the initial A), no sibilants, except those we have in 
English, and a uniform sound in every combination. I thought 
it best to learn enough for ordinary purposes before attempting 
to go through Arizona. But, strange to say, there are men who 
have been among them ten years and do not understand the 
language. Language has a strange similarity to music in that 
respect. Some of the most acute and intelligent men can not 
distinguish a tune, and could not by any possibility acquire a 
foreign tongue. Some funny mistakes occur in consequence. 
An Irishman lately established a wayside hotel near Albuquer- 
que, and was often "done out of a day's board" by impecunious 



460 AN ENRAGED IRISHMAN. 

Mexicans, until he became suspicious. One day there arrived 
a doubtful looking " Greaser," who saluted with, " Covio ustay, 
Scfior f " (How do you do ?) 

" You've come to stay, have you ? " says Pat. " We'll see about 
that. Got any money to pay your board ? " 

" No intenday, Scnor." (I don't understand.) 

" You don't intend to pay ! D — n you, git out o' this," — 
and he kicked the unfortunate Mexican into the street. 

A Federal official came to Santa Fe with half a dozen as- 
sorted phrases, which he thought sufficient to carry him through 
ordinary business. Entering a restaurant he did not know 
what to call for. At length he saw on the wall a rude picture 
of a dove, representing the Holy Spirit, such as is common in 
Catholic countries, which he took to be a sign for some game 
fowl, and asked : " Como se llama eso f " (What is that?) " Un 
Espiritu Santo, Scnor," (A Holy Spirit, sir,) replied the M-aiter. 
"Da me dos Espiritus Santos muy cursos," (Give me two Holy 
Spirits well done,) requested the official, to the great horror of 
the devout Mexican. 

The people arc so polite that one rarely knows if he has 
made a mistake. They compliment every step of progress, and 
if one pronounces within a hundred degrees of right, exclaim : 
" 3Iuy bueno, Senor, muy elaro CastilUano." 

Take them all in all, they are a strangely polite, lazy, hospit- 
able, lascivious, kind, careless and no account race. 

Their total lack of enterprise shows in the most ludicrous 
ways, but most in their style of transporting everything on the 
backs of asses. I saw but one Mexican wagon in the city, and 
that had broken down. About the streets are seen droves of 
jackasses of a very small breed, some with bundles of hay or 
straw strapped on their backs, others with stove wood stacked 
up on each side, reaching from the ground to a foot above the 
back and tied on with raw hide — a regular perambulating 
wood-yard. Occasionally one loses his balance or trips, and 
goes over on his back. Then he can not get up until unloaded. 
I saw one get down in the Santa Fe river; and having enjoyed 
the cool bath and freedom from his burden, he refused to rise 



AN OVERBURDENED DONKEY. 461 

when unloaded. A withered old seiiora was belaboring him 
with a musical accompaniment of ^^ caramha ! ]ior Dios ! va 
maladitto!" and adjuring all the saints in the Litany, ending 
with a vigorous thwack on his head and a direct a2:)pcal to Saint 
Anastasia, who is su23posed to have a peculiar power over refrac- 
tory nuiles. But the heterodox beast shook his long ears lazily, 
and exhibited a most Protestant contempt for the whole saintly 
outfit. As I passed on she had called to her assistance a 
muchacho, who was spearing the donkey along the back-bone 
with a ferule-cane with some promise of success. All the 
timber from the mountains is brought into the city by this 
method, and one often sees a drove of donkeys, each with a 
heavy joist on each pannier, projecting ten feet beyond his liead 
and dragging on the ground behind him. One morning I 
noticed a miserable little burro, no bigger than a good-sized 
ram, staggering under an entire bedstead, piled up and strapped 
together on his back ; and another with an immense trunk 
strapped "cut-angular" from his left hip to his right shoulder. 
They are the wealth of the poorer class, and when the house- 
liold donkey dies a Mexican family goes into bankruptcy. 

But to an antiquarian — and I have tliat taste a little too 
strong for a brief chronicler — Santa Fe is a most delightful 
place. All sorts of valuable documents, bearing on the early 
history of the West, are in the archives, and I only regretted 
that my time for digging among them was so short. Here, for 
instance, is the official report of Don Francisco Vasqucz Coro- 
nado, who left the city of Mexico three hundred and thirty 
years ago, with a commission from the Viceroy Mendoza, and a 
large body of troops, to find and conquer " The country of 
Cibola, and the Seven Cities." He traversed Southern Cali- 
fornia, Arizona, New Mexico and Northwestern Texas; gave 
the mountain peaks and rivers the names they bear to-day, and 
added to the Spanish Empire an area twelve times tlie size of 
Ohio — eighty years before the Pilgrims sailed from Holhind. 
And here is the original journal and narrative of Castenada, a 
l)rivate soldier Mith Coronado, who accompanied that army in 
its movements for five years. Also, the autobiography of Vaca, 



462 HISTORY. 

a companion of Narvaez, who was wrecked from the former's 
fleet of boats, on the coast of Texas, and passed from tribe to 
tribe all the way thence to the Colorado, escaping at the end of 
ten years to the city of Mexico. And these are not romances, but 
for the most part veritable history, as well authenticated as the 
history of Massachusetts. Here is, indeed, a delightful field 
for the antiquarian. 

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was the first white man who 
stood upon the soil of New IMexico, or, as he called it, Tierra 
de Cibolas. This Vaca was a Spanish gentleman of high rank, 
native of Jerez de la Frontera, grandson of the Pedro de Vaca, 
who made the conquest of the Canary Isles. At Pena Blanca, 
New Mexico, now lives a gentleman by the name of Don Tomas 
Cabeza de Vaca, who is the tenth in the direct line of descent from 
Alvar Nunez. The latter is described as having the most hand- 
some and manly figure of all the Spanish officers, and is spoken 
of in the poetry of that period as the ''Illustrious Warrior." 
His narrative, though supported by his solemn affidavit, made 
for a Judge in Spain, is disfigured by most improbable stories, and 
utterly incredible accounts of cures performed merely by means 
of prayer and " laying on of hands." These features have caused 
the eminent historian, Bancroft, to reject the whole as containing 
too much error to be of any value; but as his descriptions of 
the country exactly coincide with our present knowledge, and 
a large part of his account is attested by other witnesses, \\q 
may safely assume the possible part as in the main correct. 

In company with the unfortunate Pamphilo de Narvaez, he 
sailed from San Lucar, Spain, on the 17th of June, 1527, and 
landed in Florida the ensuing April. Every schoolboy is fami- 
liar with the sufferings and fate of that expedition. The pri- 
vate journal of Vaca begins on the 4th of the next September, 
at which time the Spaniards determined to construct boats, and 
attempt to reach their countrymen's settlements in Mexico. 
Nails, saws, and axes were manufactured from their stirrups 
and other iron equipments. Vaca made a pair of bellows of 
deer skin. A Greek named Teodora, pitched the boats with 
resin, which he manufactured from the pine trees, and while at 



SPANIARDS AS PHYSICIAXS. 463 

work they lived upon their horses, of which they made the skins 
into water bottles. They embarked on the 22d of September, 
and skirted the coast of Louisiana. A violent storm scattered 
the fleet, and on the 6th of November, Vaca's boat was cast 
upon the shore, on one of the low, sandy islands lining that 
coast. They were treated with great kindness by the Indians, 
and after partly recovering their strength, repaired their boat, 
and again embarked, but were thrown back upon the same 
island. After long delay they again repaired their boat, buf, 
attempting to embark, it was swamped in the surf Despair 
now took possession of all but Vaca, Dorantes, Castello and the 
Greek ; they determined to start for Mexico by land. Many 
of the others died of grief and exposure ; the Indians became 
hostile, and left them without food, and in a short time out of 
eighty who had been cast ashore (another boat also had been 
wrecked), but fifteen remained alive. Still the four above 
named cheered their companions with the hope of escape, and 
all started westward, believing that the Spanish settlement of 
Panuco was not far distant. Of Narvaez and the others driven 
out to sea with him by the storm, nothing more was ever heard. 
Vaca named this island Malhado, (misfortune,) and gives a 
jKirticular account of the customs of the Indians there, which 
agrees very well with later accounts. 

The Indians made the Spaniards act as physicians, and having 
no medical knowledge, their practice was, says Vaca, " to bless 
the sick, breathe upon them, and recite a Paternoster or Ave 
Maria, praying with all earnestness to God, our Lord, that he 
would give them health and influence us to do them some good." 
He adds, that in every instance the patient recovered, after which 
their treatment by the Indians much improved. 

In the spring of 1529 they determined to escape, but before 
the time set Vaca fell sick. The others, now thirteen in num- 
ber, started without him, and he remained with the Indians in 
that neighborhood nearly five years, or until some time in the 
year 1533. He went without clothing and conformed to the 
condition of the Indians. Having got to another tribe he gave 
up the profession of a physician, and adopted that of a peddler, 



464 YACA BECOMES A SLAVE AND ESCAPES. 

riglitly judging this Mould better enable him to travel from 
tribe to tribe. Sometimes he was well treated, and sometimes 
for long periods made a slave. But in all that time he never 
succeeded in getting more than two hundred miles from Mal- 
hado, and could hear nothing of his companions or of Panuco. 
At length he was joined by another Spaniard named Ovieda, 
who had been left by the main party, and together they started 
westward in company with some Indian peddlers. Vaca relates 
that they crossed four large rivers, then made a long stay at a 
bay, which is supposed to have been the bay of Espiritu Santo. 
There came to them some Indians he calls Quevencs, who stated 
that "a few leagues beyond there were three men white like 
themselves, all that was left of a large party, slaves to a tribe 
who treated them with great cruelty." At this Ovieda became 
frightened, turned back and was never heard of afterward. 
Vaca went secretly and hung about the camp of the other tribe, 
until by the merest chance he met Andres Dorantes. They 
" mutually returned thanks to God," and in a short time Vaca 
was united with the other two captives, Castillo and Estevanico, 
a Barbary negro. These were the last of the thirteen who had 
left Vaca six years before. Vaca became a slave, and the four 
captives spent almost a year in devising a plan of escape. They 
got from tribe to tribe far into the interior, and at length be- 
came slaves to a people who " lived where there were many 
cattle," of which Vaca says : " Cattle come as far as this. I 
have seen and eaten of their meat. They are about the size of 
those in Spain, but with small horns like those in Morocco, and 
long hair, flocky like the Merino sheep. They come as far as 
the coast of Florida (Texas ?) in a range from the North over 
four hundred leagues. The people kill them for food, and thus 
many skins are scattered through the country." These, of course, 
were the buffalo. 

Of all the four hundred Spaniards who had started for the 
conquest of Florida, but three remained alive, Vaca, Dorantes 
and Castillo, and with them the negro, Estevanico. They 
traveled many weeks toward the northwest, stopping some time 
on a river which was *•' breast high." From Vaca's description 



"the town of hearts." 465 

the place has been identified on the Canadian, some distance 
down in the Indian Territory. From there they turned west- 
ward, and after traversing much of what Vaca calls the "cow 
country," they came to a desert. They crossed this desert and 
some mountains, and came to " a people of fixed habitations." 
These people were very kind. " They went in a state of nature, 
except the old, who dressed in skins. The season was unusually 
dry. Rain had not fallen for two years, so they begged the 
white men to ' tell the sky to rain,' and also to pray for it, 
which last request was complied with." From there the Span- 
iards went straight west, and found the " same kinds of peoples, 
in fixed habitations, and dwelling between high mountains," for 
a hundred leagues. 

The women, though, were better treated and better dressed. 
They also wore shoes. " When a woman bore a child, she 
brought it to the Spaniards to receive their blessing." They 
must have been at this period among the Pueblos, or a people 
who greatly resembled them. The Spaniards spoke six Indian 
tongues, but these people understood none of them, and their 
communication was entirely by signs. 

They continued towards the west till they reached a place 
Vaca calls "The town of Hearts," because the Indians "gave 
to Dorantes many hundred split hearts of wild game." One 
day's travel west of that they saw an Indian " with the buckle 
of a sword belt and the nail of a horseshoe," at which they were 
delighted, as those things indicated the neighborhood of Span- 
iards. Vaca says of that region, " It is in the entrance of many 
provinces toward the South Sea. There is no maize on that 
coast, but the people eat straw and fish. They are a melan- 
choly and emaciated people." They had evidently got among 
the degraded aborigines of California. The Indians stated that 
a few days before their arrival " certain men, who M'ore beards 
like themselves and came from heaven, had come as far as that 
river; that they had lances and swords, and had killed two of 
their people, after which they had gone to the sea and returned 
homeward to where the sun sets." Convinced that they were 
near their countrymen, they pressed rapidly southward, passing 
30 



466 VACA REACHES THE CITY OF MEXICO. 

through territory abounding in good land and beautiful streams; 
but the natives everywhere had fled to the mountains for fear 
of the Spaniards, who had made an expedition from Mexico. 

As they advanced, they saw repeated indications of their 
countrymen, and at length "came upon four Spanish horse- 
men." Strangely enough, Yaca indulges in no particular 
description of his feelings on the occasion. He merely asked 
the horsemen to take him to their commander, Diego de 
Alcaraz, of whom he requested " a certificate of the day, month 
and year of his arrival among them, and the manner in which 
he came." Alcaraz explained that he himself was lost, and 
did not know which way to turn. He sent them forward with 
a small party, and after a long and distressing march they 
reached the town of Culiacan, in the present Mexican State of 
Sinaloa, where they were received with unbounded astonish- 
ment. The Governor of that province sent them to Compos- 
tella, a hundred leagues further. From there they were 
everywhere received with public demonstrations, great crowds 
of people flocking to see them, on the road to the City of 
Mexico, which they reached " on the day before the vespers of 
St. James," in 1536. They were received with great honors 
by the Viceroy, and Castillo and Esteranico remained in 
Mexico. The next spring Vaca and Dorantes went to Vera 
Cruz, and shipped for Spain, and after many vicissitudes 
reached the harbor of Lisbon, August 9, 1537. Vaca was pre- 
sented at court, and married a noble Spanish lady. The 
Emperor conferred upon him the Government of Paraguay, 
Avith the title of Adalantado. But his constitution seems to 
have been enfeebled, and his life had completely unfitted him 
for public business. He soon returned to Spain and settled,. 
in the enjoyment of a handsome pension, at Seville, where he 
died. At Seville he wrote his narrative, of which many manu- 
script copies were made, some still remaining in the archives 
of the Narvaez flimily. Nearly two hundred years after it was 
translated and published at Paris, of which translation the 
above is a summary. I am told also, that an English trans- 
lation or abbreviation has been published in Washington, by 



ANOTHER EXPEDITION TO NEW MEXICO. 4C7 

Mr. Buckingham Smith. It would certainly be an exceed- 
ingly j3opular work, having all the interest of the most exciting- 
romance, and the value of authentic history. Many of Vaca's 
descriptions are as exact as could be written to-day. 

At that time, 1530-40, all the country north and east of the 
Rio Grande was called by the Spaniards Cibola. In Mexico 
this is, by common consent, the word for buffalo, but in the 
Spanish lexicons it is translated, "A quadruped called the 
Mexican bull." 

The next expedition into New Mexico was by an army under 
the command of Don Francisco Vasquez Coronado, appointed 
by the Viceroy of ]\Iexico, in search of '' The Seven Cities." 
The Spaniards had heard of these cities as so rich in precious 
metals, that the household implements of the people were of 
gold and silver, and their currency pearls and other precious 
stones. The army, numbering at least seven or eight hundred, 
was largely composed of young Spanish cavaliers, who were as 
enthusiastic as our own " Pike's Peakers," and announced in 
Mexico that " neither they nor their families would ever have 
need of more gold than they should bring back from the Seven 
Cities." But just before this, a friar named Niza had pene- 
trated some distance into Arizona to convert the natives, and 
only returned when his last companion was killed. Coronado 
set out on his march in January, 1541. AVith him was one 
Castaneda, a sort of Spanish Xenophon, a scholar, private 
soldier and adventurer, who has left a full account of the trip. 
They marched from the town of Culiacan northward to the 
Gila River, which they crossed near the present Casas Grandes. 
The Indians seem to have been rather too sharp for the Span- 
iards, as each successive tribe assured the latter that they were 
themselves very poor, " but about a hundred leagues flirther on 
they would find the golden cities they were in search of." 
They did find seven cities — in fact several different nations, 
each with seven cities; but the largest only contained a few 
hundred inhabitants, and none of the gold they were in search 
of Soon after crossing the Gila, they found the whole country 
mountainous and barren. Of one town Castaneda savs : "This 



468 



WANDERINGS. 



Chilticale, built of red earth, was evidently the work of a civil- 
ized people who had come from a distance. . . . The large 
house seemed to have served for a fortress, and had evidently 
been destroyed by the present inhabitants, who compose the 
most barbarous nation yet found in these regions." They con- 
tinued their march to the northeast, meeting with a disagreeable 
variety of mountains, deserts and wild Indians, at length reach- 
ing a place which, from their description, is thought to be the 
present Zuni town. 

It is farther conceded by 
/: \ those who have examined the 

subject, that the " Seven 
Cities of Cibola," if they 
ever had an existence, were 
in the valley of the De Cjiaco, 
where are now the ruins of 
seven great towns. 

The army marched on to 
the province they called 
Cibola, where they found 
several Avell built towns, and 
but little gold or silver. 
There they spent the win- 
ter, and in the spring marched 
on eastward. They fell in 
with an Indian they called 
"the Turk," on account of 
his resemblance to that 
people, and he piloted them 
entirely through the moun- 
tains, out on to the plains, and to the country of the buf- 
falo. They wintered, the second year, in the Rio Grande 
country. There all the Indians still directed them a "few hun- 
dred leagues to the east," and told them Quivira was the rich 
country they were in search of. So they marched for Quivira, 
and, after a whole year in the buffalo country, made their 
final pause on a large river, now believed to have been the 




PUEBLO AT PRAYER. 



SANTA FE FOUNDED. 4G9 

Arkansas. Castaneda's description of that conntry will answer 
very well at the present day. 

Corouado then determined to return, and against the wishes 
of the entire army, they set out for New Spain, which tliey 
reached some five years after leaving.it. Coronado was deprived 
of all his offices, and went to Spain in disgrace. Castaneda 
applies to him a phrase which is literally translated into modern 
slang, " out o' luck." 

Forty years passed away, and two friars came into New 
Mexico with a religious company, all of whom were put to 
death by the Indians. Another expedition was undertaken by 
Antonio de Espejo, with a small force, which explored the val- 
ley of the E,io Grande, and returned to Mexico without loss. He 
is credited with having founded Santa Fe, in or about the year 
1580. O^c."^ 

Next came Don Juan de Onati in 1591, with an army and a 
considerable band of colonists, and succeeded in establisiiiiig 
some settlements about the close of that century. He left a 
voluminous report, portions of which have been copied, r,s 
well as his private journal, and translated into English. The 
original was in the Secretary's office in Santa Fe, and not long- 
after the American occupation was stolen and has never been 
recovered. About a wagon load of Spanish manuscripts are in 
the Librarian's office. Seventy years after the settlement the 
Pueblos rebelled and drove out the Spaniards, and the province 
was recovered by Governor Otermin and General Vargas, after 
a bloody war. Then follows a list of some forty Spanish and 
Mexican Governors, Captains, Generals and political chiefs, who 
ruled New Mexico a hundred and forty-six years, ending with 
Don Manuel Armijo in 1846, who collected a large army to meet 
the Americans, and, like the noted " King of France," marched 
out to the canon commanding the country, and then marched 
back again, abandoning the province without firing a shot. 
Whether these people are bettered by an American occupation, 
I have my doubts. That they have not progressed for a century 
and a half is self evident. They could not possibly have been 
more ignorant, superstitious and unenterprising than they are now. 



470 POPULATION. 

''Since the occupation/' meaning since the tlie Americans 
annexed the country, is a jihrase continually heard in New 
Mexico, in much the same way as "Since the war," in the Soutii: 
a general era from which to date 

" All times, all seasons, and their change ; " 

as then the modern history of the Territory may be said to 
have begun. Twenty-two years passed, each exactly like the 
others ; then came a better class of Americans, and soon began 
to agitate for the adoption of a State Government. Nearly all 
the Federal officials and most of the gente jiiia, or leading 
families, M-ere in favor of it; the air was full of arguments on 
tlie subject, and the figures in its favor were recited unto me 
daily. 

The population, exclusive of Pueblos, is 92,000, which makes 
the Territory appear on the census roll to have lost 2000 since 
1860. This was caused by Colorado taking four counties, con- 
taining 12,000 people, and Arizona a strip containing 8000; 
so the area which was New INIexico in 1860, has really gained 
18.000 in population. The census rolls make no distinction 
between American and Mexican, but from the best data obtain- 
able, the former are thought to number fully 6000, and are 
just now increasing rapidly. This leaves of all shades of 
Spanish 86,000 — from pure Castilian to the darkest "Greaser." 
Of those ijominally Americans, over half are Jews, Hungari- 
ans, Frenchmen, and Germans, all naturalized citizens, however. 
Have we here, then, the elements of a progressive American 
State? The leading men of both races maintain that we have, 
and the Constitution now before Congress was submitted to 
the people last June, and adopted by a large majority. The 
Democrats have heretofore opposed it, but now are divided on 
the question. The most intelligent Mexicans are Republicans, 
and most of the rest follow their lead with but little question. 
They are the most easily managed people in America. The 
Constitution presented is almost identical with the new one of 
Illinois, except the voting clause, with some features added 
from Nevada. If put in operation, this will be the cheapest 



WEALTH OP THE COUNTRY. 471 

State Goveriiinent in the Union. Tlie highest salary paid is 
fifteen hundred dollars, and under the Alcalde system each 
town is practically a law unto itself. At the outside, and 
making the highest allowance for extra legislative expenses, 
the State can be run for $20,000 a year more than the Terri- 
tory expends on its own account. The assessed value of 
property in the Territory is thirty-two million dollars, and 
the rate of taxation will thus be as low, or lower, than in Massa- 
ciiusetts. 

We may sum up the population of New ^Mexico thus : 

Americans 6,000 

Mexicans 8(3,000 

Citizen Indians (Pueblos) 10,000 

"Wild Indians (i)erhaps) 20,000 

Total 122,000 

The common people are incredibly poor. If a late peon, 
now free, has a dollar, he neither labors nor thinks till it is 
gone. Twenty-five cents of it buys flour, twenty-five goes for 
didccs for the senora, another twenty-five pays for absolution, 
and the rest buys a lottery ticket. No matter if his ticket 
draw a blank a hundred times in succession, "may be some 
time I win" is to him sufficient answer. A few families own 
all the wealth of the country. Even they have their wealth 
mostly in flocks and herds, and immense as it is, it brings them 
but few of the luxuries of life. If this Territory is admitted 
now as a State, it ought to be called the State of Pohritta 
("Little Poverty"). 

Each of these wealthy families has from five hundred to two 
thousand dependents, some of M'hora were their peons before 
that system was abolished, and continue to yield obedience by 
nature and habit. If a State, this would be a most complete 
" rotten borough " — the worst " carpet-bag " State in the Union. 
Fifteen families with ease would rule the State — the Chaves, 
Gallegos, Delgados, Senas, Garcias, Pereas, Oteros, Quintailas, 
and a few others. Tiiese families have three-fourths of the 
wealth of the Territory, and all the influence. The poor Mexi- 
cans do anything they are told; in fact, don't know how to do 



472 RELIGIONS. 

otherwise than as they are told. These families, in combination 
with halt" a dozen priests, and a dozen or more Americans, 
would divide the home offices between them, and send whom- 
soever they [)1 eased to Congress. If an American is "in with 
the noble families," he is a made man. It would be an emi- 
nently peaceable State, however; the Government need antici- 
pate no trouble or need of reconstruction. They are very 
friendly to an American, seeming to regard him as actually a 
superior. The Mexican women almost look upon a white man 
as a sort of little divinity. Religion seems to interpose not the 
slightest objection. A Protestant can get office as easily as a 
Catholic, if not more so. The Americans, of course, are Pro- 
testants, but for the most part like A. Ward's showman partner: 
"Gentlemen, these are my sentiments; but if they don't suit 
you, they kin be changed." 

Father Hays, a most genial, humorous and intelligent Irish 
priest, gave me an amusing account of a young Virginian who 
lately arrived there, and coolly proposed to the Father to 
become a Catholic, if the latter would introduce him into the 
better class of families. He stated that he intended to settle 
in the country, and wished to marry a Mexican lady with some 
property. 

The State of New Mexico would be a quiet one, if not pro- 
gressive. The country unquestionably abounds in natural 
wealth, and after two railroads get there, and fifty thousand 
Americans, it will be the richest of all the new States. There 
is little or no provision for public schools. The Convent School 
in Santa Fe is good, and nearly all the Americans patronize it. 
The Episcopalians and Presbyterians have a small school. The 
Catholic Bishop, G. B. Lamy, came to Cincinnati twenty-seven 
years ago, and in the diocese of the present Archbishop Purcell 
was ordained, and ministered some time in Covington, Ken- 
tucky. He went to New Mexico twenty-two years ago, and is 
the best posted man in all matters relating to the nature of the 
country, climate, soil and mineral wealth that I met. The 
French and Irish superior priests in the city are first-class men; 
the native priests in the country are very uncertain. Bishop 



NOMENCLATURE. 473 

Lamy tells me that the Pueblos are among the best practical 
Christians in New Mexico. I hope it is so, for I must travel 
among them soon. He has devoted a lifetime to the reforma- 
tion of the Church throughout the Territory, and still there is 
vast room for improvement. Of all the native priests only two, 
I am informed, escaped being silenced. As they were in race 
neither Spanish nor Indian, so they were in faith neither 
Catholic nor Aztec; their religion sat loosely u])on them, and 
they lived to all intents like the rest of the population. Each 
one kept his senorita, and though the children took the mother's 
name, the paternity was well known. Queerest of all, and 
most clearly showing the singular " faith without knowledge" 
of these people, are the proper names. Jesus, Maria, Mariano 
and Jose (Joseph) are favorites, the second and third comm on 
to both sexes. A prominent citizen of Santa Fe is Don Jesus 
Vigil. His parents probably intended him for a " watchful 
Christian." Fortunately for sensitive American ears, it is pro- 
nounced Haysoos Veheel. Irreverent as it may appear in me 
to write it, there is a well-known citizen whose name is Jesus 
A. Christ de Vaca [Haysoos Antonio Krecst day Bvahca), 

But the Spanish Americans generally are brilliant in nomen- 
clature. The full name of a cow-herd sounds like the title of a 
grandee. Americans who settle in the country very often 
either translate their own names, or give them a Castilian term- 
ination. By such process Mr. Meadows becomes Senor Las 
Vegas; John Boggs, Senor Juan do Palos; and Jim Gibbons 
flowers out as Don Santiago de Gibbonoise. An Irishman from 
Denver settled near El Paso, married a wealthy Mexican lady 
and lives in style; his original name, Tim. Murphy, is long 
since . forgotten, and he signs his bank checks as Timotheus 
Murfando. 

Sometimes, among the gentefina, the marriage contract speci- 
fies that the sons take both names (united by "and"), from 
some principles of the law as to entailed estates. Thus Don 
Jose Vigil y Alarid is the son of a lady of the Alarid family 
married to Seiior Vigil. In like manner my young friends in- 
sisted that my rough Saxon patronymic did not suit the soft 
Castilian, and I became Don Juan de Bidello. 



474 



AZTEC RUINS. 



Their religion strikes mc as a vile parody on Mother Church, 
and some of their ceremonies are so ridiculous that to describe 
them would be, as Dogberry says, " flat burglary." They have 
a set of fellows known as Penitentes, or in French Flagellants, 
who on stated occasions walk about the streets in processions, 
naked from the waist upward, and thrashing themselves with 
bunches of a thorny shrub native to the country. They often 
leave the ground behind them streaked with blood, and a few 
days after my arrival one died at Tecolote, northeast of Santa 
Fe, from exhaustion and loss of blood. He was buried at night 
under the church, and the authorities could not even learn the 

name of the wretch- 
ed fanatic. 

On three sides of 
the city are ruins of 
ancient pueblos 
(Aztec or Toltec, it 
is notcertain), which 
were evidently 
great and prosper- 
ous. But they have 
long since fallen to 
ruins, and besides 
the broken pieces 
of pottery of most 
curious workman- 
ship, all that remains of these cities are the two old houses on 
the road to San Miguel. The arrangement of these houses, and 
the few relics and rude drawings preserved, show that the occu- 
pants adored the rising sun, and had substantially the religion 
of the Montczumas. They cooked vegetables by the use of 
smooth white stones, which were heated in a small furnace. 
The food was put in a vessel containing water, into which they 
threw these heated stones, frequently changing them to keep the 
water boiling. 

Most interesting of all the people of New Mexico, are the 
Pueblos, or citizen Indians, the last of the ancient civilized 




A MEXICAN DRAY. 



PUEBLOS OR CITIZEN INDIANS. 475 

aborigines, who number eight or ten thousand in the entire 
Territory. Heretofore, they have not been considered citizens ; 
but the question was raised, and by the last Supreme Court 
decided in their favor, and henceforth they are voters. They 
are eminently civil and honest, and in every respect as civilized 
and progressive as the Mexicans. Indeed, it is the uniform 
testimony of travelers and American residents, that they are the 
most trustworthy of all the people of New Mexico. From Avhat 
I see of them about the streets of Santa Fe, they seem to have 
more of the commercial character, and to be much more active 
traders than other Mexicans. But they still dress in the ancient 
costume, which is neither Indian nor Spanish, but a sort of 
mixture, with pantaloons somewhat in the Turkish style, and 
when in full dress with a profusion of red and yellow. They 
inhabit twenty-six villages, principally in the Valley of the 
Hio Grande, the most important of which is San Juan, thirty 
miles northwest of Santa Fe. They live totally distinct from 
the surrounding Mexicans, each village having its own govern- 
ment, and no bond of union between them; but all live in the 
gi'catest harmony with their neighbors. Each village has a 
Governor, a cacique or justice, a Jiscal or constable, and a 
"council of wise men." Besides these civil officers there is also 
a war captain, who attends to military affairs. 

A few^ hundred acres of land belong to each pueblo (the word 
means "village"), which is parceled out for cultivation to the 
various families according to their size. They are more indus- 
trious than the Mexicans, and have abundance of wholesome 
food. Tiiey live almost exclusively on beans, mutton, and corn 
meal, their lands producing the vegetables in great quantities. 
Their herds are extensive, and consist of the small, hardy breed 
of sheep. They were long ago forced to adopt the Catholic 
faith, but have mingled it strangely Avith their old religion, as 
some of them seem to regard God and the sun as the same. 

Sabianism would appear to be the natural religion of all races 
aboriginal to a dry, healthful climate, with clear air and much 
bright weather, as we find to have been the case in Chaldee, 
Persia, and Mexico. They pray upon the flat roofs of their 



476 



CUSTOMS, DRESS, ETC 




•cakamba! va maladitto." 



houses at sunrise and sunset, and no one can certainly tell 
whether they are praying to the sun or the Catholic Deity, as 
they are very reticent about their religious belief.- A pueblo 
consists of one large square, with windows, but no doors, the 
entrance being on the roof and reached by an outside ladder. 
They dress mostly in woolen of their own manufacture. The 
women are very stout and muscular, and the men well formed 
and toleraldy good looking, with mild, open countenances. They 
speak the Spanish with eloquence and fluency, but learn Eng- 
lish with difficulty. Anciently they composed four distinct 
Nations, namely: The Piros, Teguas, Queres, and Tagnos; but 
arc now merged in one, and, according to their own account, 
not one-tenth as numerous as before the conquest. 

Who are they ? is the puzzling question. They did not learn 
their civilization from the Spaniards, that is certain ; but were 
found by the latter almost as far advanced as to-day. Cas- 
taneda says the Pueblos came with a nation from the northwest, 
and their own tradition is that they are Montezumas Indians. 
Against this, however, Baron Humboldt contended tliat tlie 
Aztec language differed essentially from that of tlie Pueblos, 
and Castaneda further says that they were unknown to the peo- 
ple of Mexico until Cabezade Vaca and his companions brought 



OBJECTS OF INTEEEST. 477 

information of them. The late Albert Gallatin took great 
interest in this question, and after careful examination, pro- 
nounced the Pueblos to be of Toltec origin. A- still more inter- 
esting question to me is, what of their old civilization — was it 
spontaneous, as in Egypt and the Orient, or did they derive it 
from some foreign source, from some Asiatic immigration ? 
Unfortunately, we ai'e here out of the domain of obtainable 
facts, and remitted to vague theories and more or less probable 
guesses as to the "Mound-builders," and the "Tartars in 
America," whom the California Cliinese aver to have been sent 
hither by Kublai Kahn in the twelfth century. BIshcp Lamy 
is of opinion that -the Pueblos are actually Indians, with a 
civilization jieculiarly their own, and pronounces them the best 
practical Christians in New Mexico. 

Among so many objects of interest Santa Fe assumed new 
beauties in my eyes, and I could almost forgive the natives for 
presuming to exist. They style the location " the western base 
of the Rocky Chain," but to me it seems not the base, but half* 
or two-thirds of the way up the mountain. The valley of the 
Santa Fe River is nowhere more than a mile or two wide, the 
river itself about a rod wide and six inches deep, and on both 
sides of it the city extends in tolerably regular squares. About 
one-tenth the amount of rain falls in a year as in Ohio. The 
river is diverted from its main channel into acecquias, one for 
each street, and all the crops are watered regularly, though by 
an awkward and unscientific method of irrigation. 

Daily I studied the routes through Arizona, and each day 
brought fresh tales of disaster. First came a Mexican from 
El Paso, whose two companions were killed by Indians on the 
edge of the Jornada del Muerto ; and next a butcher from the 
western border, whose Mexican herders were killed and all his 
stock run off by the Mescalero Apaches. And while he was 
yet speaking came another messenger and said that nine pros- 
pectors, who left by the northern route, went too far south, fell 
into an ambuscade, and " their scalps now ornament the lodges 
of Collyer's pets." 

We next receive Arizona papers with the information that 



478 



PERILS OF TRAVELERS. 



the Eastern coach was attacked near Tucson, and the driver 
and anessenger killed ; and that the Western coach was robbed 
beyond iTorJrYu-ma, byJNIexican ladrones, and the station-keeper 
and one messenger murdered. nFhe white population of Arizona 
is 9600, and they average a loss of twenty per month by 
Apaches and Mexicans — about half the ordinary mortality of 
an army. All things considered, I concluded to try the northern 
route. A soldier was about to start for Fort Wingate with a 
wagon-load of provisions ; and General Myers, Quartermaster, 
kindly gave me passage with him. From Wingate I thought 
to catch some kind of an expedition to Prescott. There were 
stretches of fifty miles on that line without grass or water, but 
there are no hostile Indians, which perfectly suited the writer. 
By waiting a month I could have gone to the Little Colorado 
with u party of engineers ; but life is too short to stay a whole 
month in Santa Fe. 




MEXICAN CUKltETA. 




CHAPTEE XXIV. 

NEW MEXICO. 

Off from Santa Fe— La Bajada— Rio Grande Valley— The Pueblo de San Do- 
mingo — 2ilexican farms — Albuquerque — Crossing the Rio Grande — On the 
Desert — Rio Puerco— El Rito — "Town of the Lake" — Cubero — MeCarty's 
Ranche — ilurder by the Navajoes — Agua Azul — The extinct volcano — Summit 
of the Sierra Madre — At Wingate — My soldier comes to grief. 

^'^WELYE days I abode in Santa Fe, and my summing 
up is about like that of the sailor who had agreed to 
write to his friends of the manners and customs of the 
people he visited : M'hen shipwrecked on the coast of 
Patagonia he wrote, " These people have no manners, 
and their customs are disgusting." No, I am wrong there : 
they have a surplus of manners; it is in morals there is a de- 
ficit. The Territory contains about eighty thousand native 
Mexicans, divisible into three classes : the gente fina, or noble 
bloods, of whom there are about fifteen families; the respect- 
able middle classes, who may })0ssibly amount to two thousand 
in all; and the "Greasers," who make up about ninety-five per 
cent, of the whole. Taking out fifteen families, it is my solemn 
conviction that the property of all the other Mexicans in the 
Territory will not average fifty dollars apiece. I thought, be- 
fore this trip, that Utah was the poorest part of America ; but 
the Mormons roll in wealth compared to the New Mexicans. 
As to morals, which is the worse, polygamy or promiscuous 
concubinage ? That is a great moral question which I am not 
competent to decide. People who have lived among them many 
years confidently assert that there are some, in fact a number, 
of virtuous people among the natives. I hope it is so. Let us 
take it for granted, and dismiss the subject. 

At 11 A. M. of May 22d, I took my seat on a freight wagon 

479 



480 REMINISCENCES OF SANTA FE. 

and rolled out of tlie new Mexican capital. Crossing the E,io 
de Santa Fe, we left the valley and struck across the mesa in a 
southwest direction, the city behind us appearing to sink slowly 
into the earth. Looking back upon it, this noted town ap- 
peared to my eye exactly like a collection of old brick yards. 
It is my invariable custom to say something good of a town on 
departing, if I can possibly think of a good thing to say; but I 
am puzzled what to say for Santa Fe. Verily my stay there 
left the worst impressions I ever had of any city in the West. 
The few Americans there I liked, but as for the natives, if there 
is hope for them, morally or intellectually, I have failed to see 
the signs. That the city has no commercial future is, to my 
mind, self-evident. I find it difficult to convey on paper the 
exact reasons, but if one could stand on the mesa a few miles 
southwest, he would see it at a glance : the mountains extend 
around it in a semicircle, putting out north and south of it 
almost to the Rio Grande, and all practicable passes for railroads 
completely flank it. Either the Atlantic and Pacific, or the 
Denver and Rio Grande would have to go forty or more miles 
beyond it, then bend around the points of the mountain cres- 
cent and run back and up a rise of two thousand feet or more 
to reach it. The site, moreover, is five hundred feet higher 
than the highest point on the surveyed line of the Atlantic and 
Pacific. It was an important place in the old days of freighting 
from the Missouri border, because it was on the first level and 
fertile piece of ground the trains could reach after getting through 
the mountain passes ; but it can never be a railroad center. It 
may some day have a branch road, but even that I consider 
very doubtful. 

My only companion from Santa Fe to Fort Wingate was 
Frank Hamilton, of the 8th U. S. Cavalry, stationed at that 
post. Frank had been detailed to come to Santa Fe on mili- 
tary business, and had improved the occasion by getting glori- 
ously drunk, in which condition he remained most of the time 
he was at Santa Fc, and was barely sober enough to know the 
road when we started. The average regular soldier will take 
his tod — as often as he can get the chance. 



LA BAJADA. 



481 





SOUTHWEST FROM SANTA FE. 



Instead of going westward down the Santa Fe, we turn south- 
west, rising by successive " benches " to a vast barren table land. 
We pass in the afternoon one Mexican hamlet, looking like a 
collection of half a dozen "green " brick yards, dry, hard, dusty 
and desolate. Crossing the high mesa, level as the sea, we 
approach an irregular line of rocks, rising like turrets ten or 
twenty feet above the plain, which we find to be a sort of natural 
battlement along the edge of the " big hill." Reaching the 
cliff we see, at an angle of forty-five degrees below us, in a 
narrow valley, the town of La Bajada. Down the face of this 
frightful hill the road winds in a series of zigzags, bounded in 
the worst places by rocky walls, descending fifteen hundred feet 
in three-quarters of a mile. La Bajada is the stereotyped New 
Mexican town — a collection of mud huts, among which one or 
two whitewashed domos indicate the residences of persons of the 
gentejina {hen-tafee-nah), or as they themselves style it, of the 
saiigre azul (blue blood). The town has a hotel, consisting of a 
31 



482 HOTEL IN LA BAJADA. 

quadrangle of rooms around an open square, which contains 
some flowers, two shade trees, benches and wash-stands. The 
rooms have floors of wood, instead of dirt; the walls are white- 
washed ; two mirrors and a buflalo-skin lounge adorn the sit- 
ting-room, and generally the place almost ranks as respectable. 
Two bright-eyed, graceful, copper-colored sefioritas bring me a 
supper of coffee, side meat, eggs, and tortillas de mais, and 
entertain me with a voluminous account in musical Spanish of 
their personal recollections of the place. I have learned enough 
of the language to be able to say "ah," "yes" and "no" at 
nearly the right place, and that is the most required to keep a 
Mexican woman social. My companion, jolly drunk, was barely 
able to get his team into the corral, when he fell back into the 
wagon asleep, and, as he was the cook of our outfit, I was 
obliged to stay overnight at the hotel. Except the two houses 
mentioned, the whole town is of a uniform dull clay color, walls 
of mud, fences of mud, door and window casings of mud- 
colored wood, roofs of slightly sloping poles, covered with earth 
t^vo or three feet thick, floors of native earth beaten hard, and 
nowhere a patch of grass to relieve the wearied eye. No words 
can convey to an Ohio man the utter dreariness of an average 
New Mexican town. 

I was curious to know the meaning of the name, for it was 
the first Mexican town I had seen which was not named after 
some saint or angel. They have the saintliest names and the 
most unsaintly looking towns of any people I know. The 
words mean " The Descent," and are pronounced altogether — 
Lavvahadda. 

We left La Bajada in the coolness of the morning, for we had 
got down to a warm climate, and descended a gentle slope to 
the valley of the Rio Grande. The river was as great a disap- 
pointment as most of the towns had been : broad, swift and 
muddy, navigable for scows and flats only, and at this season 
too thick to swim in. The rise had spoiled the usual crossing 
place, and we must travel down the river two days to Albuquer- 
que. We left the Indian pueblo of Santo Domingo some three 
hundred yards to our right, but while the driver jogged along at 



A TALK WITH A PUEBLO. 



483 



a sobre passo gait of two miles per hour, I left the wagon for a 
look at the curious town. The houses differ but little from 
' those of the Mexicans : a few have doors, but to most the 
entrance is on top, and reached by a ladder or rude adobe stair- 
way at the corner. I saw but few men, most of them being in 
the fields at work, as these Pueblos are a very industrious race. 
Unlike all other Indians I have seen, they might with some 
truth be called red, their complexion being almost rosy, at least 
a bright mahogany color. Why our aborigines were first called 
"red men" I can't imagine, for the only tribe, except these, I 
ever saw, with even an approach to red in their faces, were the 
Chippewas, of Northern 
Minnesota. One man of 
unusual intelligence ac- 
companied me three 
miles on ray road. He 
gave his name as Anto- 
nio Gomez, and we car- 
ried on a lively conver- 
sation, as well as men 
can who have but four 
or five hundred words 
in common, that being 
about the extent of my 
Spanish. He described 
their mode of irrigation 

and stock-tending, and gathering some of what he called "Jlores 
amarillos del chaparral" (yellow flowers of the large greasewood), 
he gave me to understand that they made of them a strong tea 
wliich was good for "mit/cre.9, muchachas, mulas, cabaUos y todos 
los otros" (women, children, mules, horses and every other thing). 
But to my main question: " Pasar quantos arios vienen los Pue- 
blos aquif" (since how many years first came your people here ?) 
he laughed, a little contemptuously I thought, and then replied: 
'' Qiiien sabef Qiiisas doce quinientos ! " (Who knows? Perhaps 
a dozen times five hundred !) From the frequent use of this word, 
quinievfos, I was led to conclude that the Pueblos estimated by 




PUEBLO CACIQUE, 



484 DECREASE OF THE PUEBLOS. 

five hundreds instead of tliousands; but the whites best ac- 
quainted with them tell nie that they are rarely able to count 
beyond a hundred, and generally reckon only by tens. Any 
number beyond a hundred is '' infinity" or "eternity," and 
vaguely expressed by the word quinientos. 

Three miles brought us down into a beautiful vega, contain- 
ing some two miles square of rich, natural meadow on which 
the Pueblos had several hundred head of horses and mules. 
My companion pointed out with some pride his own manada 
of sixty mules and mares, attended by his three boys, and 
ui-ged me to stop at his rancJuria and taUe dinner. But ap- 
pearances were not inviting, so I j)lead no ticmpo, and hurried 
on after the team, Antonio leaving me with a friendly grasp 
and, ''Addio, Scnor, pasa biienas dies/' ( ^Nlay you pass good days.) 
A little farther on we drove within a quarter of a mile of the 
river, where almost the whole village of Pueblos were hauling 
a rude seine. They held up some good-sized fish, shouting the 
price; but on my declining, waved me off with, *' Buena Jornada, 
Senor !" (A good journey, sir.) 

The slow but steady decrease of the Pueblos is attributed by 
different persons to many different causes. I think it is largely 
owing to the system of intermarriage j)ursued in each pueblo 
("village"). The authorities have assigned to each a sort of 
reservation, generally six miles square, as they are scattered in 
every part of the Territory and mingled among the Mexican 
towns. This makes of each one an isolated coranmnity sepa- 
rated by many miles of Mexican country from any other j)ue- 
blo, and left to its own population exclusively for society. The 
Indians of one know little or nothing of those of another. 
Many of them number no more than two or three hundred 
inhabitants each, and in this small number the same families 
have married back and forward for hundreds of years till every 
member of the community is some akin trt every other njember. 
Degeneration and decay are the inevitable results. To speak 
bluntly, the stock needs a new graft. This "marrying in and 
in" is a Spanish custom, also, and the Mexicans, who cannot 
plead necessity, consider such marriages rather preferable. 



A WIFE S RELATIONS. 



-185 







Young Americans who tiike Mexican wives sometimes discover 
this fact in a rather ludicrous manner. In the small towns every- 
body seems to be some akin, and relationship is a great thing 
with the Mexicans, calling of course for extensive hospitality. 
So the newly made wife brings up a gang approximating to 
hundreds, and introduces the husband to her primero, and her 
seguncJo and her tercero (first, second and third cousins), till he 
is frantic at the thought that he has married the whole infernal 
coniniiinity. 

Santo Domingo is the 
point where the Atlantic 
and Pacific Railroad — as 
at present surveyed — is 
to reach the Rio Grande, 
greatly to the disappoint- 
ment of Albuquerque. 
The road crosses the 
mountain and enters this 
valley along the Galis- 
teo River. Instead of 
crossing the Rio Grande 
Valley at right angles, 
as had been expected, the 
road will enter at Santo 
Domingo, and thence run 
south through Albuquer- 
que to Isletta, some four- 
teen miles further south, 
and there cross the river. 
The charter is so worded 
as to give the road other 

lands in the Territory in lieu of those already occupied along its 
line; and the Register estimates its total grant in New Mexico 
at eleven million acres, or one-seventh of the Territory. But 
he adds this comfort: "Real estate in New Mexico has in- 
creased in value more than eleven million dollars in the last 
twenty-four hours, owing to the definite location of this road 




'■MY RELATIONS, SIR." 



486 APPEAKANCE OF THE COUJSTRY. 

and it would be difficult to estimate the benefit that will result 
to the Territory from its completion." 

We pass the little pueblo of San Felipe, and from this vega 
rise on to another desert — for ten miles the same eye- wearying 
panorama of dry sand, dark gray rock and treeless, grassless 
mesa, the whole uninhabited and uninhabitable. About 3 P. m., 
we descend to another oasis of two or three square miles, Avhere 
we spend the night at the town of Algodonas. All that I had 
previously seen of unsightly Mexican towns is eclipsed by this 
straggling row of unburnt brick kilns, walls, fences, houses, 
fields and corrals of dried mud. My companion had fortunately 
got sober enough to cook our dinner (or suj)per rather) while I 
hunted for some additions to our fare, which consisted of army 
bread, pork, coifee and potatoes. I found three luxuries for 
sale : vino de pais, (native wine,) eggs and goat's milk. ]\Iy 
soldier took the milk by choice, but I confined myself to the 
eggs and wine with the regular fare. After supper I ran about 
town till I found one intelligent citizen, who gave me much 
information about the country, in a mixture of French and 
Spanish. " When will the Thirty-fifth parallel road be built? " 
and "AVill New Mexico be admitted soon as a State?" were 
the questions on which he earnestly desired information. He 
set forth the arguments for a State Government at great length. 
The strongest in his estimation seemed to be, "The rich {/os 
ricos) are all in favor of it." As they must pay the expense, 
he thought they should have whatever they wanted. 

We were off at six next morning, and a few miles from Algo- 
donas entered the great oasis of Albuquerque, the largest 
body of fertile land in New Mexico. For nearly a liun- 
dred miles, with slight breaks, extends the fertile valley 
of the Rio Grande, varying from two to eight miles wide. 
In this portion an acecquia, taken out of the river above, runs 
along the bluffs, from which side ditches, one every furlong or 
oftener, convey the water among the fields. There we see ridges 
of dirt thrown up, dividing each field into little squares, of 
some five rods each, to hold the water. The labor of irrigating 
seems to me much greater than in Utah. In places the careless 



CULTIVATION. 



487 




ALGODONAS. 



natives have allowed tlie ditches to break and overflow the 
road for hundreds of yards, irrigating it into a bed of mud, 
wliich the teamster, borrowing a term from theology, pro- 
nounced a work of super-irrigation. In comparison with the 
sterile mesas we had crossed, this fertile strip seemed a very 
Eden. Wheat, which at Santa Fe was just high enough to 
give a faint tinge of green, was here a foot high, rank and 
thrifty. We were twenty-two hundred feet lower than that 
city, and in a climate at least ten degrees warmer. Not more 
than one-fifth of the whole area of New Mexico is fit for culti- 
vation. Even of that so fit, not more than half lies in a posi- 
tion to be irrigated, with the present system. But that which 
is fertile is exceedingly so. The Valley of the Rio Grande 
here is as productive as the Valley of the Nile ; and most of 



488 DESCRIPTIVE. 

the mountains and highlands are of some value for pasturage. 
For five miles before reaching Albuquerque, our road is through 
a highly cultivated country, containing some vineyards and 
many shade trees, forming an agreeable contrast with the rest 
of the country. In most of these towns one sees no shade trees, 
no rills of sparkling water coursing the streets, as in Utah and 
Colorado. The Mexicans only care to live ; they have little or 
no conception of beauty. 

One might almost say that the valley of the Rio Grande is 
New Mexico, just as that of the Nile is Egypt; for outside of 
it nine-tenths of the country is either totally barren or fit only 
for pasturage. All the important towns are in that valley or in 
some tributary thereto, and one may ride from El Paso to Taos 
through a tolerable continuous line of settlements, while to 
cross the country from east to west, he will often travel for days 
together over barren mesas, without sight of a dwelling. 

At noon of a broiling day we turned westward across the 
valley, finding a delightful place of rest in the only grove I had 
seen, towards what appeared from a distance as another array 
of " green " brick yards ; but which is located on the map as 
Albuquerque. Among the little farms near the city the in- 
habitants were repairing their fences, as usual just before the 
summer drought. A box-frame, some two feet square and a 
foot deep, with no bottom, was placed upon the ground and fil- 
led with tough mud mingled with a little grass; then the frame 
being lifted, left a section of the wall in place to be hardened 
and whitened (a little) by the sun. Successive blocks were stacked 
on each other till the fence was four or five feet high. Such a 
mud-wall, with the ditch by it from which the dirt was taken, 
is the only fence you will see in days of travel on the Rio 
Grande. 

Albuquerque is the coming town of New Mexico, if it has a 
coming town, which I am much inclined to doubt. Here the 
Atlantic and Pacific road will bisecit a comnninity of one hun- 
dred thousand people, who will purchase yearly ten or twenty 
million dollars >vorth of goods ; and the general trade of the 
country will double in a few years after the road is built. But 



A REST ON THE JOURNEY. 



489 




ALBUQUERQUE CATHEDRAL. 



an American can not live here as a farmer now; as in Utah, he 
can not compete with the natives. They can live too cheap. 
The city is some two hundred years old and contains nearly two 
thousand inhabitants. Here is the finest church in New Mexico 
— that is, a stately pile of adobes, with two lofty whitewashed 
towers. This is said to be a more moral town than Santa Fe-. 
Bernalillo, a few miles up the river, is the prettiest town in the 
valley and the residence of the wealthiest man in New Mexico, 
Don Jose Leandro Perea, whose wealth is estimated at two 
million dollars. That town and Albuquerque have some pre- 
tensions and are almost equal to country towns in Indiana. 
The wealthy families .have whitewashed houses, stone window 
sills, pine floors, sometimes carpets, and live perliaps as well as 
ordinary farmers in Ohio. Most of the people were peons until 
the American occupation, and though nominally free are nearly 
as much subject to the will of los ricos as ever. 

My soldier concluded to stop here till Sunday "to rest the 
mules," assuring me by so doing we could reach Wingate in 
four days more, though we had one desert and two mountainous 
ridges to cross. Most of the way we will be on, or near, the 
exact line of the Atlantic and Pacific. 



490 JUNE RISE OF THE RIO GRANDE. 

Friday afternoon and Saturday I rested, wrote and rambled 
in the queer, flat old city, calling also on the padre, who is 
usually the most intelligent man in a Mexican town. All the 
acting padres are now French or Irish ; the native Mexican 
priests have been retired, whether on half-pay or not I did not 
learn. The padre gave me many facts : that the oasis of Albu- 
querque was some eighty miles long, and averaged four miles 
wide, and that it was now two hundred and fifty years since the 
Spanish Duke of Albuquerque encamped on this spot, though 
the city is not so old. His family title in full was Don Al- 
phonso Herrera Ponto Delgado de Albuquerque. I asked the 
padre "what was K\s front name," but he did not seem to 
know. His descendants now belong to the gente Jina, that is 
to say, the first families before mentioned (F. F. N. M.), people 
M'ho have the sangre azul in their veins. We smile at the 
solemn humbug of these people, who are so exclusive on ac- 
count of what somebody did two or three centuries ago ; but it 
is really matter of curious thought that there were considerable 
cities and Spanish temples in New Mexico before any of our 
pioneers had crossed the Alleghanies. 

The vicinity is pretty well cultivated, but the people are very 
poor, pious and contented. A palacio of dried mud, a meal of 
corn and pimiento, and a slip of corn-shuck filled with tobacco 
and rolled into a cigarette, is the hight of a "Greaser's" 
ambition. 

On the 26th, we left Albuquerque, just as the Sunday amuse- 
ments began. They usually have splendid cathedral services 
in the morning, a dog-tussle about noon, and a cock-fight later 
in the day. In the evening, if reflective, the "Greaser" 
smokes cigarettes and meditates; if sentimental, he goes court- 
ing. My soldier was sober again, by chance, and eager to 
start, while I felt refreshed, and ready for the desert. 

The " June rise " of the Rio Grande {El Eio they call it 
there — "The River") had come on a week or two earlier than 
common, and a vast bayou covered two-thirds of the " bottom " 
between the city and the main channel. In this we encoun- 
tered dangerous whirls and jump-oiFs, the wagon often plunging 



"about so high." 491 

in up to the bed, and two or three times the little lead mules 
were obliged to swim a rod or so. When we reached the 
narrow strip of high ground near the river, the whole popula- 
tion of the string-town opposite were collected on the bank, 
on their way to the Cathedral and other Sabbath amusements. 
Half a dozen families were laboring across in their own skiffs, 
while the main ferry flat was loaded to the guards. The 
women, in gay robes and black rebosos, were laughing, shout- 
ing and singing, while the men screamed, swore and shouted 
directions all at once to the four boatmen, and tiie flat drifted 
in circles down the swift current. Fortunately, the actual 
channel is not more than two hundred yards wide, and the flat 
only descended half a mile in making the passage. A boat 
load of Mexicans on the way to church can make more noise 
than two circus shows. Having passed the main current, the 
ferrymen jumped overboard, and, wading up to their armpits, 
with tow ropes on shoulder, hauled the flat to shore. This 
trifling incident is a beautiful illustration of the Mexican style 
of doing everything. 

Once landed, the male passengers took to the bayou without 
a thought for their summer pantaloons; but the women, being 
gaily dressed for church, dropped upon the grass, snatched off* 
their under clothing, raised their dresses "about so high," and 
waded to town with tho utmost nonchalance, laughing, chatter- 
ing, and singing hymns tc the Virgin ! Here and there was 
seen a youth of unusual filial piety, carrying his mother astride 
his shoulders ; but most of the women encountered the difficul- 
ties of the way with a hardihood fully equal to that of the men. 

Two hours of Mexican awkwardness set us across, and we 
left the west bank for the sand hills just as the great bell of 
the adobe Cathedral was calling these copper-colored Christians 
to morning mass. The W'estern hills looked bad enough from 
the town, and more than kept their promise. One mile across 
the valley brought us to the first viesa, not more than fifty feet 
above the river, and covered for four or five miles with a toler- 
able growth of greasewood, cactus and bunch-grass, indicating 
some fertility. Then we entered upon another gradual ascent 



492 



THIRST. 




"ABOUT SO HIGH." 



of some three miles, and were fiiirly on the desert — miles on 
miles of sand, gravel, rock and hard, bare earth. The heat 
was most intense, and till late in the afternoon bnt little air 
was stirring. At 2 P. M., having gained the highest point of 
the day's route, we were forced to stop a while to catch a little 
of what air was going. Loosing the harness from the mules, 
the driver and myself took refuge under the wagon — the only 
chance for shade. The sky above us was molten brass, the 
angry sun glared upon a blistering white plain near us, which 
rolled away in successive ranges of yellow hills, without a 
patch of green, save far to the east, where a faint tinge marked 
the course of the Rio Grande. Oh, to be on its green hanks 
once more ! To us it seemed more to be desired than Abana 
and Pharpar, or all the rivers of Judea and Damascus. The 
place we occupied seemed sacred to the genius of drought and 
desolation. The driver, with the usual improvidence of the 
regular soldier, had secured but one canteen, which was ex- 
hausted by noon, though the water was almost simmering. 

He suggested bacon rind to mitigate thirst, and though 
directly contrary to what I had expected, it proved quite effica- 
cious. Paring all the meat off, and scraping the outside, we 
placed small portions of the clean rind in our mouths, where a 
vigorous chewing soon created moisture enough to give a sensi- 
ble relief. Soldiers in this Territory tell me they have gone 



WATER FOUND. 493 

two days without water, and avoided any serious suffering by 
this simple expedient, A piece of silver, or small splinter of 
mountain j)ine, held in the mouth and rolled about with the 
tongue, is often used for the same j)urpose. 

In an hour the evening wind rose, and we moved on. At 5 
p. M., we reached a down grade, and saw on the western horizon 
a straggling line of dwarf pines, indicating the course of the 
Puerco. Our mules showed new life, gave a grateful whinny, 
and broke into a trot. Fortunately we found some water still 
in the channel, though fast sinking. Three weeks ago the Rio 
Puerco (Spanish for " Hog River") was a torrent; one week 
more, and it will be a resaca (" dry channel "). It runs but 
two months in the year; at other times, travelers must hunt 
along the dry channel till they find a brackish pool, or dig in 
the river bed. The water looked exactly like dirty milk, and 
its temperature was about 70°; but it was grateful enough to 
us. The driver drank two quart cups of it in ten minutes, and 
the poor animals crowded down the only accessible place, and 
shoved each other into the stream in their eagerness to get at 
the dirty fluid. Fortunately the dirt which gives color to the 
water is so fine, that one cannot feel it grit in his teeth, and 
aside from the earthy taste, the water is not disagreeable. 

The immediate valley of the Puerco — what we Hoosiers 
would call the "bottom" — is about two miles wide, and has 
every sign of great natural fertility. The soil is black, and as 
loose as any part of the Wabash " bottoms ; " water alone is 
lacking. In early March the mountain snows send down a 
flood of water, and the whole valley is covered with green grass, 
which endures till near the 1st of May. Then all moisture 
disappears except the river channel ; the plain changes from 
green to striped, from striped to yellow, and from yellow to 
velvet, and finally dirty brown. The grass, dead ripe, drops 
its seed in the deep cracks produced by the sun's heat, and is 
blown out by the robts, and the whole plain becomes a bed of 
black dust, seamed occasionally by cracks in which a good- 
fized child might be lost. Ten years before, the Mexicans 
attempted to settle it; built a dam to retain the spring freshet, 



494 DEAD man's canon. 

and constructed half a dozen adobe houses near the road. But, 
on account of their usual awkwardness, their dam was destroyed 
by the first freshet, their aeequia was dry the 1st of June — just 
wiien they needed it — the impractical '' Greasers" gently com- 
plained to Nuestra Iladre de dolores, and abandoned the settle- 
ment. We spread our blankets in one of their abandoned 
donios, and passed a comfortable night. The head of the 
Puerco, it is said, is only a few hundred yards from the main 
head of the San Juan, a perennial stream, and a canal to irri- 
gate this entire valley could be constructed for ten thousand 
dollars. The fertility of these valleys, when irrigated, is won- 
derful, and the reclamation of the hundred or more sections on 
the Puerco for the above sum would be very cheap. 

From the "Hog River" we have twenty-six juiles more of 
desert, totally destitute. of water ; hence we turn out at 2 p. m., 
and are on the road by moonlight. All that which yesterday 
looked so drear is enchantingly lovely by the clear light of a 
New Mexican night sky, and the turbid Puerco now seems like 
a current of molten silver. There is but one place in which it 
can be crossed, the channel being some twenty-five feet deep and 
not more than fifty wide at the top of the bank. It had fallen 
six inches during the night, leaving but three feet of water (a 
rod or two wide), from which my companion inferred that it 
would be totally dry in less than a week. Thence we rise again 
to another desert, and in ten miles reach the ancient border of 
the Navajoes, (or Navahoes, if spelled as pronounced,) a series 
of rugged gulches and narrow canons, bounded by perpendicular 
walls of yellow soapstone. They run from north to south, and 
form a break in the road something near a mile wide, evidently 
the bed of a long extinct river. Wash gravel and marine shells 
are heaped in fantastic piles by the wind. The deepest is known 
as Dead Man's Canon, where are buried twenty whites massacred 
many years ago by the Navajoes. This tribe was long the terror 
of Northwestern New Mexico. They were slowly depopu- 
lating the outer Mexican settlements, when, in 18G4, General 
W. H. Carleton organized his grand campaign, and reduced them 
to perfect submission. A party of them overtook us at the Rio 



DARWINIAN THEORY. 495 

Grande, one chief and eleven warriors, who had been down to 
the Comanche country on a stock stealing expedition, and at the 
canon we learned that they had passed westward some hours 
before us, having made tlie forty-four miles afoot in a little over 
one day. They got no horses and had some men wounded. 
Many apprehensions were expressed by the Mexicans that the 
tribe would soon go on the war path, as their crops were a total 
failure the previous year, and no appropriation having been 
made for this deficiency, they must steal or starve. 

By our early start we escaped the midday heat upon the desert, 
but the drying air joroduced strange effects. My nose, lips, and 
wrists, which blistered yesterday, peeled to-day, and I started to 
grow a new cuticle on those members. My nose was coloring 
like a new meerschaum, forming a very striking feature of my 
countenance. How convenient it would be, sometimes,, if man 
could sprout new members in place of lost ones, as a lobster 
does his claw, or a bee its sting. But then we don't seriously 
need such a faculty, or we should have it. According to Dar- 
win, all that is* necessary is to be placed in a condition where it 
is a sort of necessity, and cultivate the desire for it a few hun- 
dred or thousand generations, and the faculty will spontaneously 
develop. Beautiful theory ! 

From Dead Man's Canon we ascend a gentle slope and travel 
some twelve miles through a wide pass, almost level, bounded 
north and south by abrupt mountain spurs, which show indica- 
tions of iron ore in great abundance. Thence down a gentle 
slope, where the earth is red with iron (sesquioxide), we enter a 
vast baked plain of barren clay, as hard as the sun's rays can 
make it. On the western side of the plain appears a slight 
depression of most inviting- green, containing probably five 
sections of exceedingly fertile land. North, south and west 
of it rise mountain ridges, with hollows scantily clothed with 
grass, and just this side of the oasis on the baked plain — for they 
can not afford to build on fertile soil — stands the Mexican ham- 
let of El Rito (" Little River"). We had made our day's drive 
of twenty six miles by noon. Before leaving Santa Fe I had 
procured an enlarged map of New Mexico, which had numerous 



496 EL RITO. 

streams located all through this country ; but in place of water, 
in three fourths of them, I found a channel of shifting sand, 
which had evidently been subjected to the action of water once, 
but whether one month or a thousand years ago, I could not 
determine. My entertaining companion, who had made at least 
three distinct remarks since leaving Albuquerque, here suggested 
that my map was made in February or March, when all these 
gulches do run great torrents of water. As he said this in per- 
fect innocence and good faith, it amounted to a pretty good 
thing for him to say. Of all the employments on top of ground 
I think private soldiering in this country most completely dries 
up the mental fluids. Some of these streams run as long as six 
weeks, and the rest of the year are dry beyond an Ohioan's 
conception. They call them here arroyos or resacas. 

El RJto is a strange, old, isolated Mexican town, away out on 
the edge of the desert, twenty-five miles from the nearest neigh- 
bor; and yet it is a century old, and has doubtless contained 
the same families — perhaps forty in all — during all that time. 
No church, no school, no papers, no books, or very few, to intro- 
duce a new idea ; but family concerns, town concerns, the 
winter's rain and the spring rise; the rare passage of a Govern- 
ment train, and the rarer visit of the itinerating padre to bap- 
tize the children and confess and absolve the elders, make up 
their little world of incidents. The oasis is plowed with a 
sharpened log, well seasoned and hewn into the shape of an 
Irish spade, and the crops tended with hoe and rake; while the 
goats, sheep, and asses are pastured in the mountain hollows, 
and the hens live upon crickets and earth worms. If the 
family burro (donkey) does not die, if the goats do well, if the 
water is sufficient for enough of wafsand c/«7e Colorado, and the 
hens lay eggs enough to send off by the weekly peddler, and 
procure a little tobacco and flowered calico, then Quien quiei'e 
por mas? (Who cares for more?) In this little community of 
degenerate Spaniards A's children have married B's children, 
and vice versa, and in the next generation double-cousins 
married double-cousins, for a hundred and fifty years, till the 
wine of life has run down to the very lees and flows dull in 



RELATIONSHIP. 



497 




W^ 




MEXICAN FARM HOUSE. 



slusrffish veins for want of a vitalizino- current of alien blood. 
Every person in tiie settlement is some akin to every other per- 
son in it; and the miserable Spanish custom of "marrying in- 
and-in," which has destroyed the Hidalgoes of old Spain, is 
here made tenfold worse by necessity. In the whole Territory 
this custom prevails with best families, and the gente fiaa of 
New Mexico have paid a fearful price for that sangre azul of 
which they boast. El Rito might plead necessity for the custom, 
but inexorable niitui-e does not accept such an excuse. Occasion- 
ally a benevolent American wanders this way, and if his stav 
be long enough, does something toward improving the race; 
and it is but simple justice to our countrymen to state the fact, 
that the residence of even one of them in a Mexican hamlet is 
pretty sure to be followed in the next generation by children of 
improved physique, with the light hair and Saxon features 
which mark the superior race. 

While the soldier secured his train in the public corral, I 
walked about the dry and flinty streets, contemplating the sore- 
eyed children, measly chickens and sick goats, reposing together 
on the shady side of the clay walls, with an eye of curious pity. 
32 



498 AN AMERICAN FROM TIPPERARY. 

The men and larger boys were at work in the public field, or 
tending flocks among the hills; the women asleep, or sitting on 
the dirt floor smoking cheroots of corn shuck and tobacco, and 
the whole juvenile population looked to rae like a miserable 
batch of rags, sore eyes, and sin. There was not a tree, a 
flower, or a spear of grass in the place. Those persons I 
spoke to were even too lazy to understand Spanish — as I 
spoke it, anyhow. They only grunted, " A^o sabe," and point- 
ing to a rather superior adobe on the hill, remarked, " AUi, un 
Americano." 

Thither I went, and found an " American " indeed. His 
name was Ryan, and he was " from Tipperary, indade." 
However, he spoke English and Spanish fluently, and gave me 
much valuable information. He drifted in there six years ago, 
liked it, married a Mexican Moman, had several Pueblo ser- 
vants and a flock of sheep, and was general advisor, advocate 
and scribe for the settlement. A delegation of Pueblos from 
the next town were at his house to complain of the Xavajoes, 
who had been stealing their stock, and to seek redress. He 
took me to the public fonda, where I got a good supper of 
goat's milk, tovtlUas and eggs, and a clean room, and spent the 
evening quite pleasantly. The nights there are delightful ; a 
little too cool toward morning, perhaps, for comfortable sleeping 
in the open air, but with abundant blankets we did well. The 
entire mountain range southwest is said to be a mass of min- 
erals, coal, iron, and copper. It is a region of curiosities. In 
the next valley south is the largest one of the abandoned cities 
of — whom ! Quien sabe, is the universal answer of Mexican 
and Indian. Most of the houses there are of sawed stone. 
Three miles ahead, and on our road, is the noted Pueblo de 
Laguna, probably the best built of all the Montezumas towns. 

This pueblo, (" town of the lake,") is so called because in 
ancient times a vast causeway extended across the upper part 
of the valley, which was constructed by the Pueblos, to retain 
the winter floods for summer irrigation, creating a lake several 
miles in extent. The road from El Rito runs around in a 
regular U for seven miles to get up to the next higher valley; 



HOUSES OX THE KOCKS. 499 

but there is a rocky trail straight up through one of the moun- 
tain passes which reaches the town in three miles, and this I 
followed, gaining some two hours on the team by that and my 
early start. The sun was just rising as I entered the pueblo, 
and the inhabitants were mostly on the house-tops preparing 
their implements for the day's work. The town is situated 
upon the east end of an oval rock or mole, some two miles long, 
and rising gradually at each end to a hight of a hundred feet 
above the bordering plain. The top is comparatively level, and 
the sides fall off in a succession of abrupt benches, each a yard 
or so in w^idth and hight, rendering the whole place a splendid 
natural fortification. On these rocks the Pueblos first built for 
protection, and are slow to change, though in the present 
lengthy peace some of them are beginning to build out on the 
farm. I had met the Cacique of this pueblo the day before at 
Ryan's, in El Rito, and been introduced to him. He is one of 
the most intelligent of the race; spoke Spanish fluently, and a 
little English. He treated me with rare courtesy, and by many 
cross-questionings, gestures and repetitions we managed to con- 
verse with interest. Unlike all other Pueblos I had met, he 
seemed to have some definite idea of the antiquity of his race 
and their origin. He gave me to understand that from the 
traces in Arizona and this Territory, they must have come 
originally from the west, and had always been at war with other 
Indians. Slowly repeating the few words of English he could 
command — "All 'e times war; no times peace; all 'e times 
Pueblos' house on rock, no times on field "—he swept his hand 
in great circles to indicate a vast and indefinite lapse of time. 
He then had recourse to many gestures and voluminous Span- 
ish, of which I understood but little, and that seem to imply 
that many hundred miles west of here I would find Pueblos 
"away up on steep rocks," where tliey could only get up and 
down by ladders. 

Many of the houses have a second story, not more than half or 
one-third as extensive as the lower one ; and some few have a sort 
of tower, or third story, on top of the second. To this I several 
times signified a desire to ascend, but the Cacique either did not 



500 REI>IGION OF THE PUEBLOS. 

understand me, or did not see fit to grant my request. Unedu- 
cated and semi-barbarous people as they are, themselves destitute 
of the intelligent curiosity of the civilized man, can not under- 
stand the existence of it in him, and nearly always attribute its 
manifestation to some mean or possibly hostile motive. Gener- 
ally the Pueblos dislike to have white visitors; few of them are 
communicative to one who asks many questions, and, long as 
the Zuni branch of the race has been in contact with the whites, 
I am told there is very little positively known about them. 
Still less do they appreciate any religious motive; to them a 
l)eople's religion is their property, just as their land or houses 
are, and a part of their customs, like their wars and dances. 
Hence, they at first distrust religious teachers or visitors more 
than any one else. For these reasons the accounts of mission- 
aries, especially their first accounts, among any barbarous 
people, must be received with great caution. It is nearly or 
quite impossible to make an Indian understand why any one 
should want him to give up his religion and adopt that of an- 
other; he can not assign any probable motive for such solicitude, 
and invariably concludes there must be a swindle in it some- 
where. He will readily acknowledge that the white man's 
religion is true and good — for the white man. And, of course, 
the Indian's religion is equally true and good — for the Indian. 
There had been trouble in this pueblo lately on religious 
matters, though I could not fully understand the merits of the 
case. It seen)s that when the Spanish Jesuits "converted" 
these people, some two centuries ago, they found it impossible to 
eradicate entirely the Montezumas faith, and so made a com- 
promise. They gave them the Catholic religion, with its most 
impressive ceremonies, and permitted them to keep all their 
Montezumas customs which did not amount to actual idolatry. 
These consisted mostly of dances and feasts at stated times, 
which had more of a national than a relitxious sijrnificance. But 
since Governor Arny took charge of them an attempt has been 
made to convert them to Protestantism, and this has created 
difficulties among themselves. Since visiting that pueblo, I 
have learned there was a white man there teaching, though I 
did not see him. 



MATERIALS OF THE HOUSES. 



501 



To attempt their couversiou to Protestantism in their present 
grade of intellii^enoe seems to me rather premature : the bare 
suggestion of reasoning with such a people about the "real 
j)resenee," " immaculate conception," grace, free will and pre- 
destination, involves an exquisite absurdity. Morally, the 
Pueblos are doing well : the men are ten-fold more honest, and 
tiie women a hundred-fold more virtuous than are the ]\Iexi- 
cans. This is not only my own observation, but the opinion of 
every one I have talked with who knew them. 

The houses of the pueblo are massive and solidly built of 
stone, cement and occasionally ac/o6es; it is better built than 
any of tlie Mexican towns I have seen, except, perhaps, Santa 
Fe and Albuquerque. 
Struck by the appearance 
of the massive timbers 
used for joists in tlie 
Cacique's house, I asked 
how they were obtained, 
and was informed that 
they were brought with 
burros from the nioun- ^^" 
tains ten miles distant. ~^ 
Tliey could scarcely have 
been transported on the 
backs of these little don- 
keys in the Mexican fash- 
ion, and as the Pueblos 

own no carts, I wonder how they brought them. The joists 
were large as ordinary house sills in the States, which I judged 
to be for the better support of the upper stories, as I noticed the 
walls of these in some instances not continuous with or resting 
on the walls below, but built directly across and over the 
rooms. The interior of the lower rooms was whitewashed and 
pleasant'y neat, but in and about many of the houses was an 
unpleasant odor of green hides, which were hanging near, this 
being a general butchering time with them. Their windows 
are made of a material they call acquarra — a kind of isinglass, I 




PUEBLO MAIDEX. 



502 "mound builders." 

think, translucent but not transparent. It lights the interior 
nearly as well as glass. The Cacique spoke with some pride of the 
many cattle, sheep and goats owned by his town, and then broke 
out into bitter complaints of the Xavajoes, who had lately stolen a 
dozen horses and ten cattle from them. The Pueblos have always 
been at })eace with the whites, exciept the brief period of the 
rebellion against the Spaniards in 1G80— '90, and from time im- 
memorial have had the same customs, and the same grade of 
civilization as now. They did not learn it from the Spaniards; 
they dwell in the same houses and use substantially the same 
implements as before the latter came — the only change being 
that in some cases they fasten timber with iron where they for- 
merly used seasoned wood. Their wouien are neat and modest. 
The children mostly go naked to the age often or twxdve years, 
and are hardy and well formed. All ages and sexes have 
splendid teeth — perfect rows of })earls. Xo one can tell the 
age of this town ; it was here when the Spaniards came, and has 
been here, the Indians say, ever since their grandfathers had 
any account. Some twenty miles south is the ancient Aztec 
city of Sobieta, which has been in ruins from the earliest historic 
times. Many of the houses were constructed of square stones, 
which even now show marks of the saw ; others of flat stones 
laid in mortar, and some apparently of timber and adobe, though 
but the merest outlines of these remain. 

All the towns show their people to have lived in a state of 
continual warfare. New Mexico is notable as being the only 
part of our country in which a civilization has been once estab- 
lished and completely overthrown. I might say twice estab- 
lished and the second time decayed, for it now seems to me that 
these New Mexicans must be far inferior to their Spanish an- 
cestors, and that they are still retrograding. 

Modern research has done much to clear up the mysteries of 
this region, and from more thorough exjiloration of Yucatan and 
South America we may yet learn the true history of the Aztecs 
and the " Mound Builders." The subject is full of interest, but 
it is a melancholy interest. It has about it much of that feeling 
which results from the contemplation of decay and ruin. There 



RELICS OF PAST AGES. 503 

is aa eloquence in decay, but it is a sad eloquence ; and growth 
has more of vital interest than decline, even as we gaze with 
more pleasure upon the robust boy than upon the decrepid old 
man. But I am powerfully impelled, as I look upon these 
relics of age, to ask : Is this the necessary fate of all peoples, all 
civilization ? Must all grow old, become effete, and wither and 
die like an individual, while genius, learning and progress take 
their flight to other lands? And must we, too, cover our land 
■with connecting lines of wire and i-ail, and build cities and 
temples, only that thousands of years hence another people may 
dig among our ruins, and wonderingly inquire of us and our 
works ? Even if our civilization survive, some day our Nation, 
our Government must pass its manhood, grow old, decay and 
perish — perhaps in a sea of blood ! History teaches this as 
truth, and we can only sigh with the poet : 

" Yes, come it must, the day decreed by fates — 
How my heart trembles while my tongue relates — 
When thou, beloved State, thyself must bend, 
And see thy warriors fall, thy glories end." 

Something less than three hours had passed at the pueblo 
when our team moved on. The road runs partly over the east 
end of the rocky mole, on which the pueblo stands, and thence 
along its northern side, and we descended into a beautiful and 
fertile valley, some five miles long, the common property of the 
Pueblo. The place has a population of at least eight hundred, 
and the valley does not contain more than twelve sections of 
arable land ; but they cultivate it closely, and there being abun- 
dant water for irrigation, it produces amazingly. Wooden 
plows were running, breaking up the ground for late crops, and 
on the adjoining hills I saw extensive herds of goats and sheep 
attended by young Pueblos. 

Crossing this oasis we entered another broad cafion, which 
we followed for some ten miles to the town of Cubero, somewhat 
better than the ordinary Mexican hamlet. It is built on a 
series of shelving rocks; some of the dwellings were of stone, 
nearly all had stone floors, and the place seemed literally bask- 



504 PUEBLOS ON A SPREE. 

iiig under the fierce rays of a New Mexican sun. There is no 
part of America which so exactly answers the best descriptions 
of Syria as western New Mexico. There are the same yellow 
and striped mountains, seamed and scarred as if blasted by a 
million years of storm and lightning; the same canons with 
perpendicular walls, and stifling with hot, stagnant air, and the 
same <lry sands and white deserts and treeless, grassless mesas. 
And here and there, too, are fertile oases, where privileged na- 
ture seems to have exhausted the resources she denied to all the 
rest of the land ; rich valleys, that return a hundred-fold for the 
husbandman's seed, and over all a sky of dazzling purity, with 
moonlight at times so bright that one can read ordinary print. 
And here and there among the mountains, in the dryest and 
most unexpected places, springs bubble out and cool water drips 
over the rocks, and green, rank grass covers a plat of an acre or 
two with rare beauty, all the more enchanting for the surround- 
ing desolation. At certain points, too, one finds square wells as 
large as an ordinary dwelling, cut, as it were, down into the 
solid rock, with a never-failing suj)ply of water; and these be- 
come places of renown, historic spots, the boundaries of little 
nations or communities, council grounds and camping places of 
repute in every part of the country. 

But among these mountains New Mexico has what Syria has 
not: a supply of minerals that will bring the energy of the 
nation here and create a third civilization which Apache and 
Navajo can not destroy. As regards agriculture, the country 
West does not contain arable land enough to supply garden-sauce 
to an average population, such a population as will some day 
be at work among the mines. At Cubero we found another 
party of Pueblos on a general spree. One able-bodied " buck " 
was staggering along the street, while his wife followed close 
beating him in the back and head with the butt end of a wagon 
whi|) — literally "taking him home;" while most of the Mexican 
population, those who were not asleep, were out laughing at the 
sport. Women's rights prevail extensively among the Pueblos. 

Thence we passed another low ''divide," from which five 
miles brought us down into another oval valley and to"Mc- 
Carty's Ranche," where we stopped for the night. 



A LONELY WIDOW. 505 

McCarty is a wandering Irishman, drifted into tiiese moun- 
tains and settled, and married of course to a Mexican Avoman. 
I found her far superior to most of her race, spealcing English 
fluently. As I sat in the shade of the house takino; sketches 
of mountain and valley, I was surprised at the appearance of a 
beautiful little girl of two or three years, with soft golden hair 
and that beautiful English fairness and transj)arency of com- 
plexion which so soon attract the traveler among the dark races. 
I called her to me in English; she came, but replied to my 
questions, 0, un hombre Americano, and ran away to the oppo- 
site side of the hacienda, whei'e a young American lady ap- 
peared. I was amazed at seeing her in that place, and noted 
the singular deference with which all the Mexicans regarded 
her. Next morning, having learned that I was a journalist, she 
met me, and explained the fact of her being there. She was 
the daughter of an old United States army officer, and was 
married very young to a Scotchman named Dennis Landry. 
He was trading in western New Mexico, and she had accom- 
panied him thus far, when two months before he left Blue- 
water (^Agua Azid) to return to McCarty's, and had never been 
seen since by whites. His wife employed the friendly Pueblos 
to hunt for traces of him, and they soon brought conclusive 
proof that he had been murdered by the Navajoes. Indeed, 
the individual who did the killing had since acknowledged the 
fact in Cubero. But there seems no convenient way to get at 
these cases, where an individual of a friendly tribe murders a 
Avhite. The murderer simply goes to some other tribe, or be- 
becomes a " dog soldier," at large in the mountains ; the friendly 
tribe either deny his guilt entirely, or profess a willingness to 
give him up, if he can be caught. Mrs. Landry informed me 
she had spent the last two months here, lonely enough, but still 
hoping to recover the remains of her husband, "for," siie con- 
tinued, "why should I go to Santa Fe, or farther East? All 
places are equally lonesome now. I am as well here as there." 
Such tragedies occur everywhere on the border, and communi- 
ties necessarily become hardened and indifferent while individuals 
continue to suffer. 



506 LAVA ROCK. 

The fertile valley in which McCarty's Ranche is situated, and 
which is to be traversed by the Thirty-fiftii parallel road, gradu- 
ally narrows westward, and a gorge not more than two hundred 
yards wide opens into another valley. The last three miles of 
the former valley is mostly marsh, and thither the officers from 
Wingate often go to hunt ducks. At the west end rise the 
springs which water the valley. They boil out from under the 
rock half a dozen streams of cold, clear water. But a few rods 
from them the lava beds begin. As I walked over the plain, 
it looked as if the lava had just cooled. I could see all the 
little waves and ripples in its surface, and near the springs it 
had evidently overflowed in successive layers, each an inch or so 
thick, the lower cooling a little before the one above it was de- 
j)osited. In places these folded layers had been broken directly 
across, folded and contorted, leaving singular gaps and fissures, 
the sides of which appeared coated in places with lime or sul- 
phur, and in others by wiiat looked like red sealing-wax turned 
to stone. Where contorted or twisted the lava rock presented 
precisely the same appearance as if one should lay down success- 
ive folds of tarred canvas till the pile was ten or twelve feet 
thick, and then roll the mass oyer and over and into long heaps. 
Some extensions of this twisted mass reached even to the edge 
of the springs, and I saw indications vrhere it had overflowed 
into the pools; but most of the way across the valley one could 
trace the division between the lava and the original rock base 
on to which it had flowed as easily as with a daub of mud 
thrown upon the floor of a house. By a rise of perhaps ten feet 
we entered upon this mala pais, and soon came to where the 
lava was not in waves, but seemed to have cooled in a mass, 
presenting a granulated appeirance, much like cooling sugar; 
and a little farther we found it light and frothy looking, as if a 
hot, foaming current had cooled to stone, porous and spongy 
like j>umice-stone. A mile westward brought us out into the 
broader vallev, and, looking backward, it seemed to me that the 
lava flow had been choked in the narrow pass about the time 
the supply was exhausted. Five miles over the level land 
brought us to another descent, leading down into another oval 



BUSHELS OF GRAIN". 507 

])lain ; and, running in a serpentine course across it, I saw a 
shining line wliich I judged to be water — the irregular course 
of some mountain stream. But it soon appeared too dazzlingly 
bright, and we found it only a narrow, dry gulley, bottom and 
sides crusted with salt and alkali, painful to the eye and tortur- 
ing to the sense. A little water runs there in winter, just enough 
to bring down the alkali from the mountains. 

I can not account for the singular succession of valleys, or 
passes, like vast sunken river beds, on this route. For a hun- 
dred and twenty miles from Albuquerque, except at Dead Man's 
Canon and the moderate ridge just west of the Kio Grande, 
there is no rise of more than ten feet which is not gained by a 
grade gentle enough for a railroad. From the lava-beds, or 
mala })ais, to Wingate, we are continually in this sunken chan- 
nel, which only widens to a great oval at Agua Azul; and soon 
after we strike the Puerco of the West, which furnishes the 
same succession of passes down to the Little Colcratlo. Nature 
has certainly given the railroad a wonderful way of passage 
here, whether she has furnished the natural wealth to make it 
j)rofitable or not. Owing to these openings there is not a serious 
obstacle or even a difficult "cut" or "fill" for over two hun- 
dred miles west of the liio Grande. 

From the plain of the mala, pais we descend a little into Tied 
Valley, about Agua Azul. It is walled in by fearfully abrupt 
mountains of black and red stone in an irregular circle, and is 
about five miles by three, containing at least eight sections of 
land of the utmost fertility. Near the bordering mountains the 
soil is red, giving name to the valley and the central butte, but 
lower down it is dark. Running water was found only at the 
southwest corner of the valley, and there M. Provencher first 
began to cultivate the soil, when he established the ranche four 
years before. The yield from this soil of volcanic origin was 
astonishing; wheat produced thirty-six bushels per acre ; corn 
thirty-eight /anf/yas (a fancga is 136 pounds), and oats grew to 
tl)e hight of a man's head, yielding bounteously. But only one 
crop was raised ; then the dry season, which has lasted for three 
years in western New Mexico, set in ; the water failed, and it 



508 VISIT TO THE OLD CRATER. 

is found that even that small stream could not be depended on 
more than one year in three. Could a certain supply of water 
be obtained, by artesian wells or otherwise, this little valley 
M'ould support a community of two thousand peojile in affluence. 
Such is the productiveness of this soil, where it is productive at 
all. Though but one-tenth of the surface of New Mexico can 
be cultivated, that tenth would supply abundance for a million 
of people. 

Fortunately for me, though unfortunately for the soldier, I 
had plenty of time to examine this singular basin. For, about 
3 o'clock next morning we were awakened by a terrible racket 
and barking of dogs, just in time to see that our mules had 
broken corral and were lighting out toward Wingate M'ith a 
speed which showed thtrj was no place like home to them. 
The soldier went in pursuit, and I visited the Red Butte and 
old crater therein. 

The hutte is nearly two miles long and a mile wide, rising 
evenly from the plain on every side, and so abruptly, by a series 
of " benches" or narrow terraces, that it can only be ascended 
in two or three places ; and the dimensions on top are only one- 
fourth less than at the bottom. M. Provencher's theory is that 
the entire valley was the original crater, bounded only by the 
rocky battlements we see around the plain, and the size of the 
present crater of Kilauea. But when the volcano was nearly 
extinct, the internal fires having died out sufficiently for a solid 
crust to form over it, another, smaller crater formed inside, as a 
vent for the last eruptions, feeble compared with those preced- 
ing them. From the plain it looks as if the toj) of the butte 
were level, but having reached it, we find it to be only a rim, 
an exact pattern on a much reduced scale, api)arently, of the 
rim of the main valley. Inside the rim fliUs off in abrupt 
cliffs, rugged knobs and jagged spurs, fifty feet or more, to a 
sort of bowl-shaped hollow. This looks as if it had been filled 
with coal, iron, wood, petroleum, lead, copper and scores of 
combustible minerals, and then the whole subjected to a blast 
furnace until nothing was left but debris and ashes. This is 
all I can compare it to, for we find in it the powdered, burnt 



DISTANT BELLS. 



609 




AGUA AZUL AND KED BUTTE. 



and carbonized remains of nearly everytliing mineral. If I 
were scientific — unfortunately for the subject I am not — I could 
spend a week in the gulch of this bufte; but as it is, I only en- 
counter scores of things which excite my curiosity, and which 
I hav'e not science enough to explain. 

The evening breeze springs up as we sit upon the lowest 
"bench" of the butte, and sighs among the crags and crevices, 
producing imitations of the sound of distant bells. I have 
often heard travelers speak of these chimes heard upon moun- 
tains and table lands, but had never noticed them before. By 
a little effort of the imagination one can call up many an old 
familiar chime, though sounding dimly, as if many miles aw:iy. 

At midnight the soldier returned, hitched uj) at daylight, and 
in a steaming state of military wrath whipped his mules 
through the forty-three miles to Wingate by sundown. Twenty 
miles east of that po-<t we passed the dividing summit of the 
Rocky Mountains, (or Sierra Madre; both names are used in- 
differently there). We reach the western slope through a long 



510 A SOLDIER PUNISHED. 

pass, in many respects resembling the South Pass of the old 
California trail. It is simply a high, barren and sandy valley 
through the mountains, bounded on the north by almost per- 
pendicular sandstone cliffs from five hundred to a thousand feet 
in hight, and on the south by scantily timbered hills which rise 
one above another to the highest mountain peak. In the pass 
and neighboring hills rain is frequent; twenty miles east or 
west of it none falls for three or four months at a time. The 
Atlantic and Pacific railroad line is located through this pass, 
and the grade is so gentle that no difficulties are met with. For 
three hundred miles w^est of the Rio Grande, nature seems to 
have provided a series of valleys especially for a railroad. The 
real trouble is that the country has so little in it worth building 
a railroad for. It is a splendid country to travel through ; a 
miserably poor one to stop in to make a " stake." 

On the evening of May 31st, we drove into Wingate; my 
soldier "reported" and in precisely twenty minutes was a close 
prisoner in the guard house — "held for trial." 

"Charge — Unwarranted disposition of stores placed in his 
care." " Specification — In this that the said Frank Hamilton, 
being entrusted with a team to transport one thousand pounds 
of potatoes from Santa Fe to this post, did unwarrantably dis- 
pose of three hundred pounds of the same on the way, etc., etc." 

He was found guilty of this, and more; and during my stay 
I was daily pained at sight of him "cleaning quarters" with a 
most uncomfortable bracelet attachment to his ankle. 

Take him for all in all, he w^as the most unfortunate traveling 
companion I ever had. 

Moral : Don't go for a regular soldier. Or, if you do, don't 
trade Government potatoes to Mexican women. 




CHAPTER XXV. 

AMONG THE NAVAJOES. 

At Fort Wingate — Natural beauty — Wealth of nature — A region of euriosities — 
The Zunis — Their wonderful civilization — Canon deChaco — San Juan ruins— 
On to Defiance — Navajo history — Their semi-civilization— Their wars with 
the Spaniards — American relations — Major Brooks' negro — Navajo War— Sub- 
jugation and decline — Their return and progress — End of stay at Defiance — 
Sounds of wrath from Santa Fe — Apology — An original " pome." 



IGHT days I remained at Fort Wingate, and enjoyed 
every moment of the time. On arrival I introduced 
myself as a journalist "surveying the line of the Tiiirty- 
(^^ fifth parallel road," and was most hospitably treated 
by the officers. Having letters to Lieutenant S. W. 
Fountain, formerly of Pomeroy, Ohio, then Commissary of 
the post, he made me exceedingly comfortable at his quarters, 
and I messed with him and Captain A. B. Kauffmann, of the 
Eighth Cavalry. Lieutenant Fountain is of the same com- 
pany. I am also under many obligations to Lieutenant H. R. 
Brinkerhoff, formerly of Union County, Ohio. He assisted me 
to obtain much information of the surrounding country, and his 
estimable lady made my stay more like a renewal of *' home 
society" than one would have thought possible in the wilder- 
ness. In my AVestern wanderings I have always found the 
United States Army officers gentlemen, pleasant, hospitable, 
and well posted on the country where they happen to be 
located. Besides these mentioned I enjoyed the plea.sant ac- 
quaintance of Lieutenant D. R. Burnham, of Company H. Fif- 
teenth Infantry, and Dr. R. S. Vickery, Captain and Assistant- 
Surgeon in medical charge of the post, both Pennsylvanians. 

Fort Wingate, nearly two hundred miles west of Santa Fe, is 
a "four company post," but had then only three companies, viz: 

511 



612 



FORT WING ATE. 





s r 



lf^'ll;*:t:S||l| 
■ "•'mum*' ilHii 



n 



Wimmmm '-\ 




officer's quarters — FORT WINGATE. 



Campany A, of the Fifteenth United States Infantry, and Com- 
])anies E and K, of the Eighth United States Cavalry, about a 
Imndred and fifty men in all. It is under command of Brevet- 
Colonel \Vm. Redwood Price, Major of the Eighth Cavalry, ' 
but he being then at Tierra Amarilla, attending to the difficul- 
ties with the Utes there, the command devolved on Captain 
A. B. KaufFmann. 

The situation is beautiful, about twenty miles west of the 
dividing summit of the Rocky Mountains, directly at the head 
of the Rio Puerco of the West. Along this stream a sloping 
valley can be followed down to the Colorado Chiquite (" Little"), 
and down that to the main Colorado — this post being thus on 
the " Pacific slope." Just south of the fort rises a rugged S[)ur 
of the Sierra Madre, from which Bear Spring (or Ojo del O-o) 
sends out a cold, clear stream, sufficient to turn a mill wheel. 



MINERALS. 513 

A braiicli is conducted by piping to the central portion of the 
fort, where a comnjodious batii-iiouse has been erected by the 
soldiers for general use. Most of the water is drawn into 
an acecquia and conducted to the common field on the plain 
below, wiiere the companies have gardens sufficient to supply 
them with vegetables most of the season. When not used for 
irrigation all the water sinks before running two miles, owing 
to the singular formation of this region. The latitude is 35° 28', 
the longitude 108° 25' (W. Greenwich), and the elevation 6600 
feet above sea-level ; hence the climate is about the same as at 
Santa Fe — that is to say, with pleasant or temperate days and 
nights cool enough for two good blankets. (I can always repre- 
sent temperature by bed-clothes better than by a thermometer.) 
I can not conceive a more delightful climate for the three sum- 
mer months. The atmosphere is singularly clear, and distance 
very deceptive. The country about is practically worthless for 
agriculture, with the exception of a few small valleys, and in 
them only the short-lived vegetables are produced. Corn will 
not ripen at all : wheat is generally cut off in the flower. The 
grazing is good, but an extensive range is required for one herd ; 
the grass only grows once in the season, and, like these mountain 
bunch-grasses generally, does not renew itself tiie same year. 

Every mineral known to science is found in these hills. 
Gypsum, salt, and iron are particularly abundant. A short dis- 
tance west of the fort is a whole mountain of gypsum, so to 
speak — enough to bury an eastern county. Neither gold nor 
silver has been found in paying quantities. Precious stones 
of various kinds have been found near, particularly garnets and 
turquoises. Lieutenant H. R. Brinkerhoff has a large collec- 
tion of curious stones, picked up within a mile or two of the 
fort, among which, I think, are some of value. 

Magnetic stones, the size of one's fist, can be had by the 
bushel. Some of them, when thrown loosely upon the ground, 
will roll over toward each other till they gather in a group. 
All the hills are covered with timber, and in the larger canons 
is abundance of pine fit for lumber. The mountains north and 
east present the appearance of a succession of lofty cones, with 
33 



>14 



DROUGHTS. 



here and there an oval hill, of a mile or two in length, rising 
equally on eveiy side, and with a flat mesa on top. The cliffs 
are mostly red sandstone, mingled at times with clayey rock — 
perhaps it should be called yellow soap-stone. Down upon the 
plain the soil is the richest kind of ''^wash earth," composed of 
the detritus of the volcanic hills, with just enough of clay and 
decayed sandstone to give it the right consistency, with every 
element for plant growth except moisture. But such plains 
occupy less than one-fifth of the country. The climate is very 

dry and equable. One heavy rain 
fell while I was there, the first of 
any consequence for three years. The 
seasons in New Mexico generally since 
1858 have been much drier than ever 
before. 

When I first heard of this "drought 
for the last three years" at Albu- 
querque, I thought it was merely a 
local fact; but since then I have re- 
ceived the same testimony from every 
part of the Territory, and along the 
road found many abandoned ranches 
which had once been under good cul- 
tivation. The Pueblos at San Do- 
mingo and Laguna pointed out to me 
dry flats which they said had been 
DISTANT VIEW OF zuNT.!! lakcs many years ago. Is New Mex- 
ico then gradually losing her supply 
of moisture and becoming more of a desert? The supposition 
is directly contrary to what we have been led to believe of all 
the Territories, except Utah. There it was considered a settled 
fact, before 1871, that the amount of rain was steadily and 
rapidly on the increase. It is evident that there has been unu- 
sual drought since 1858, but from that fact old residents draw 
directly opposite conclusions. Some assert that this country 
was once seasonable, with almost as much rain as Ohio; and 
that the rain zone has gradually left it, and by slow degrees it 




zuNi. 515 

is relapsing to a perfect desert. Others, that the original con- 
dition was continuous drought; that it never rained, in former 
times, between March and November ; that some thirty years 
ago the climate began to slowly change to one of more moisture, 
and that the last three years are only a partial and temporary 
return to the original condition. This last theory has some 
hard facts to meet. Here and there, all over the country, are 
to be found ruins of towns and acecquias where no water now 
runs at any season of the year. Only thirty miles southwest 
of Wingate, near the head of the Little Colorado (you will find 
the place marked on Johnson's map as " Zuni ruins"), is a val- 
ley some forty miles long, strewn from one end to the other 
with fragments of Zuni pottery and stone and adobe work, and 
yet there is no living water there now; also, among the Moqui 
villages are found plains showing signs of having once been 
cultivated, on which water can not possibly be brought at 
present by any engineering skill. The evidences in this region 
certainly are that New Mexico once had a more rainy climate 
than at present. 

Wingate is the center of a region full of curiosities. Forty 
miles west is the great Zuni town, an enormous pueblo — a ter- 
raced building of five stories — containing a thousand half- 
civilized Indians. They have always been friendly to the 
whites, but showed great bravery in their wars with other 
Indians. They cultivate the ground with great skill, pro- 
ducing abundance of corn, wheat, beans and melons. Their 
wealth is in sheep and goats, blankets, beads and pottery. In 
this great human hive are carried on all the complicated con- 
cerns of an advanced condition of life: government, manufac- 
tures, art and religious rites. 

The officers from \yingate visit them often, and the engineers 
on the railroad line speak of them in the highest terms. Both 
sexes are strictly virtuous, any departure from chastity being 
severely punished. They formerly had the art of writing, but 
appear to have lost it in their many mutations. They preserve 
one book, but the last man who could read it died many years 
ago, and the priests regard it merely as a holy relic. It consists 



516 



INHABITANTS. 



s,imply of a mass of finely dressed skins, bound on one side with 
thongs; the leaves are thickly covered with characters and 
drawings in red, blue and green — squares, diamonds, circles, ser- 
pents, eagles, plants, flying monsters and hideous human heads. 
One of their Caciques says it is the history of their race, and 
shows that they have moved fourteen times, this being their 
fifteenth place of settlement. No Spanish priest has ever been 
permitted to enter their town ; their religion appears to be a 
mixture of Spiritism and Sabianism. 

They are quite domestic 
in their tastes, and fond 
of pets. Turkeys and tame 
eagles abound among them, 
living about the terraces of 
the pueblo, and even in 
their dwtllings. They are 
keen traders, and have 
most perfect command of 
their features. The few I 
saw had a uniformly fad, 
mild expression of the 
eye, but were quick in 
motion, well-made and 
rather graceful. Unfortu- 
nately I was compelled, for 
company's sake, to take a 
route north of Zuni ; and 
did not know its value to 
the explorer till I had 
passed westward, 

A hundred miles north 
of Wingate are the great ruins on the De Chaco river, supposed 
to be those of the " Seven Cities of Cibola" {See-vo-la) ; and 
north of those, on the San Juan in Colorado, the ruins, as 
supposed, of Quivira, a fortified city of the Aztecs. One of the 
walls still stands, five hundred feet in length, with joinings as 
true and smooth as in any of our buildings. They were constructed 




UPPER STORY OF ZUNI. 



THE NAVAJOES. 517 

of hard sandstone, and enclosed a city of at least ten thousand 
people. 

Farther west are the "Cliff cities" of Canon de Chelley, 
Avhich I visited, and many others; and southeast are Sobietu 
and still more extensive ruins. At least a quarter, possibly 
half of a million people devoted to agriculture, once occupied 
the system of valleys opening upon the San Juan. They arc 
gone long ago, and their places are occupied by the nomad io 
races : Utes, Navajoes and Apaches. The streams upon which 
they depended dried up, and cultivators necessarily yielded to 
hunters and shepherds; just as we find wandering Arabs 
encamped in the ruins of Baalbec and Palmyra, or barbarous 
nomads wandering over the once populous and fertile Baby- 
lonia. 

The dominant race of this section are the Navajoes, who roam 
over a country three hundred miles from east to west, and 
nearly two hundred from north to south. They are a most in- 
teresting race of barbarians, though savage in war and somewhat 
inclined to thieving. They and the Apaches have been at war 
from time immemorial. The Navajoes are splendid specimens 
of physical humanity — the finest race of Indians I ever saw, 
except, perhaps, the Chippewas, of Northern Minnesota. These 
are the first Indians I have met who have not the stereotyped 
"Indian face" — the face we have heard described so often, 
either overcast with a stern and melancholy gravity, or lively 
only with an uncertain mixture of cunning and ferocity. Their 
countenances are generally pleasing, even mild and benevolent. 
They have many young fellows whose faces show the born 
humorist. Wit, merriment and practical jokes enliven all their 
gatherings, and, quite contrary to our ideas of Indian character, 
they laugh loud and heartily at everything amusing. They are 
quite inquisitive, too, and seem vastly pleased to either see or 
hear something new. Both men and women work, and are 
quite industrious until they have accumulated a fair share of 
property; then they seem content to take things easy. In short, 
they are as much unlike the "stage Indian," and as much like 
a tribe of dark Caucasians as it is possible to conceive. 



518 



WEAVING. 




XAVAJO LOOM. 



Their handiwork is very ingenious. They make pottery like 
tliat of the Pueblos, from whom it is supposed they learned the 
art. Their blankets are the wonder of all M'ho see them. They 
are woven by the squaws in a rude frame, and are so compact 
that water can be carried in them four or five hours before it 
begins to leak through. One woman was engaged near the 
Fort in weaving an unusually fine blanket for one of the officers, 
and though I watched the process for an hour at a time, cannot 
fully describe it. A large stout beam is fastened firmly to the 
joists of the hut, or to the limbs of a tree, as they often do all 
the weaving out doors. From this, by a leathern loop at each 
end, is suspended a "turn-stick," about the size of one's wrist. 
A similar beam below is fastened in the ground or floor, and 
from it another "turn-stick" is suspended by loops. On the 



DURABLE BLANKETS. 519 

two sticks the warp, or "chain," is stretched very tight, the two 
sets of strands crossing in the middle. This, with two loose 
sticks, dividing the "chain," and a curved board, looking like 
a barrel stave with the edges rounded, constitute the entire 
loom. The squaw sits before this with her balls of yarn for 
" filling" conveniently arranged, works them through the strands, 
and beats them firmly together with the loose board, running it 
in between the strands with singular dexterity. The woolen 
yarn for "filling" is made from their own sheep, generally, and 
is of three colors, black, white and red from native coloring. 
Running these together by turns, with nimble fingers the squaw 
brings out on the blanket squares, diamonds, circles and fanciful 
curves, and flowers of three colors, with a skill which is simply 
amazing. Two months are required to complete an ordinary 
blanket, five feet wide and eight long, which sells from fifteen 
to fifty dollars, according to the style of materials. At the 
Fort, officers who wish an unusually fine article, furnish both 
"chain" and "filling," but those entirely of Navajo make are 
very fine. One will outlast a lifetime; and though rolled in the 
mud, or daubed with grease for months or years, till every ves- 
tige of color seems gone, when washed with the soap-weed 
{mole cactus) the bright native colors come out as beautiful as 
ever. They also manufacture, with beads and silk threads ob- 
tained from the traders, very beautiful neck-ties, ribbons, 
garters, cuffs and other ornaments. More interesting to me 
than any of their handicraft, is the unwearying patience they 
display in all their work, and their zeal and quickness to learn 
in everything which may improve their condition. Surely such 
a people are capable of civilization. 

Officers and agents universally tell rae that Navajoes work 
alongside of any employes they can get, and do full M'ork. They 
dig ditches and make embankments with great skill, handling 
the spade as well as any Irishman. The most intelligent of 
them say it will be no use to import laborers here to work on 
the railroad ; they will learn how and do the work themselves. 

Fort Wingate was established in August, 1868, by the troops 
who came there that year with the Navajoes. It is nearly on 



520 ZOOLOGICAL. 

tlie same site as old Fort Fauntleroy, afterward called Fort 
Lyon, which was hastily abandoned in 1862, when the Texans 
overran New Mexico. When this was built, old Fort Wingate, 
sixty miles southeast, was abandoned. 

The region has many wild animals. The antelope, black- 
tailed deer, black bear, big gray wolf, wild-cat, gray fox and 
beaver are found by hunting in the mountains, while the coyote 
is altogether too common, and even in the fort my sleep was 
sometimes disturbed by its long-drawn and melancholy liowl. 
But the game near the post has been greatly thinned out lately 
by the Navajoes, and the officers go out some distance to hunt. 
There must be myriads of some kind of insects, judging from 
the presence of insect-eating birds, such as the woodpecker (two 
varieties), fly-catcher, large raven, bluejay, blackbird, owl and 
hawk (several kinds), magpie, and Rocky Mountain bluebird. 
The officers tell me that during most of the season there are 
vast flocks of buzzards hovering constantly about the fort, but 
at this time they are off in the woods or cliffs hatching. 

It is rather curious there should be such an abundance of 
animal life in what appears to be such a barren country, and 
more particularly that there should be so many scavengers (buz- 
zards, etc.) in a dry and cool locality. It may be partially ex- 
plained by the fact that there is more timber about there than in 
tiie mountains generally, and in the timber probably more food 
for small birds, etc., than one would think from the appearance 
of the plain. 

On the 6th of June, Mr. Wm. Burgess, blacksmith for the 
Navajo Agency, at Fort Defiance, Arizona, reached Wingate 
from that post ; and I concluded that was my best chance for 
company on another stage of my journey. The distance between 
the posts is just forty-five miles, as measured by Lieutenant 
Beall's odometer, in 1860; and Defiance is about three miles 
west of the Territorial line. 

This distance we rode easily in nine hours, stopping an hour 
at noon. There is water at but one point on the road, Stinking 
Springs, sometimes politely called Sheep Springs. Our mules 
drank of it, under protest, and with many snifis and contortions 



ROAD TO DEFIANCE. 521 

of the lips ; and I tasted it from curiosity. It appears like a 
solution of blue-dye, and tastes like white-oak bark. To some 
it is a dangerous cathartic, but to most a powerful astringent. 
We left Wingate with full canteens, and having a delightfully 
cool day, did not suffer from thirst. Our road wound about to 
nearly every point of the compass, bearing generally northwest • 
and here and there we encountered the Nav^ajo trail, often 
crossing our road at right-angles and striking directly over the 
hills, thus lessening the distance at least a third. But it is 
safer for white men to follow the main road, the trail being in- 
distinguishable for a mile or two in places, on the bare sand 
rock or among the piilon thickets. Four miles from Wingate 
the valley makes a great U to the northward, and our road 
runs over the foothills for three miles; then enters the valley 
again, which there narrows to a mere pass. A vast dyke of 
hard trap-rock extends across the country from north to south, 
standing out above the sandstone like an artificial stone battle- 
ment; runs out from each side of the valley in abrupt cause- 
ways, and leaves a rugged gap only a hundred yards wide. This 
opens into a broad and fertile valley, across which three miles 
bring us to the Rio Puerco of the W^est. The Puerco I crossed 
on the 26th of May runs southeast into the Rio Grande ; this 
one southwest into the Colorado Chiquito. We cross this Puerco, 
rise again into the northern foothills, and stop for noon in 
a piilon thicket. The A. and P. R. R. line follows on down 
the Puerco, running fifteen miles south of Defiance, and I have 
traveled directly along its line from El Rito. 

For the ninety miles, from the old volcano at Agua Azul to 
Defiance, the " country rock " is entirely of sandstone, or occa- 
sionally soapstone, if that be counted an exception. 

The solitary break in the formation is the large dyke of trap- 
rock. I saw not a particle of granite, slate, quartzite, or primary 
limestone — consequently, no indications whatever of gold or 
silver leads. The general testimony of soldiers and explorers 
here is that the formation slowly changes toward the north, even 
to the San Juan River. There it is granite, and there, also, are 
valuable gold and silver mines. 



522 DRYING UP. 

At the Puerco I left the line of the Atlantic and Pacific Rail- 
road. I might have followed it southeast to a point a little 
beyond the Zuni settlements, which is regarded as the northeast 
corner of the Apache country ; but just then I did not care to 
go farther in that direction. A fifty mile strip of Zunis and 
Navajoes is the least I cared to have between me and those in- 
teresting savages. I could hear enough about them at that 
distance. 

Twenty-five miles from Wingate we descend a gentle slope 
into " the Lakes ; " not bodies of water, as the name might im- 
ply, but an oval valley of great natural fertility, some five miles 
by three in extent. A few years ago it was overflowed in winter 
for a month or two; but in the general drying up which this 
country has suffered of late, it is perfectly dry all the year. I 
examined the soil with some curiosity, and found it exactly like 
that of our Wabash and Ohio " bottoms." If the reader will 
imagine one of our most fertile tracts of black, rich, loam, plowed, 
then well rolled, and left for a few years without a drop of rain 
or dew, he will have an exact picture of one of these rich but 
unwatered valleys. I easily kicked up the black, loose soil, 
Avhich bore not a spear of grass, and yet had every element of 
abundant plant-life but the one thing, moisture. Three showers 
would cover it with a rich carpet of green ; water enough for 
irrigation would make it a blooming garden. Everywhere in 
this region we come upon dried lakes, dead springs and wells, 
and occasionally cross river beds which evidently once had a 
volume equal to that of the Miami. Marine and fresh-water 
shells are found by the wagon load in dry flumes, and near them 
piles of Pueblo pottery and broken adobes, where the only in- 
dication of moisture at present is found in a few sickly cotton- 
woods, annually growing less immerous. 

Twelve miles more of gently rolling hills and pinon groves 
bring us to the "Haystacks." These are a series of cones of 
yellow sandstone, something over a hundred feet high, and fifty 
feet wide at the base, running up to a sharp point. They stand 
upon an almost level plain, but half a mile away is a rocky 
ledge containing a vast natural bridge, arched gateway, and all 



" STARVE OR FIGHT." 523 

the forms of rocky tower and battlement which can be imagined. 
Eight miles farther brought us to Defiance, situated at the 
foot of a low rocky range, and almost in the mouth of 
Cailon Benito. 

Approaching the post across a sandy plain we first come to a 
dry river bed, with enough of stunted grass to show that water 
still runs there sometimes. Following up the stream we find 
first a pool of water, then a flock of sheep, then Indian farms, 
and occasionally a hogan, from which the Navajo squaws and 
children peep out at us with a sort of hungry curiosity. We 
cross a common field of a hundred acres or so, which the Nava- 
joes have thrown up into beds of two or three rods square for 
irrigation, and ride into the fort. 

The white population sally out nearly en masse with one cry, 
" Where's the mail ? Why the h— 1 didn't you bring the 
mail ! " 

My companion explained that high water on the Rio Grande, 
or some other cause, had prevented any military express reach- 
ing Wingate from Sante Fe, and consequently there was no 
mail. The general disgust was painful to witness. 

"Here's a gentleman," said my companion, "just from there; 
may be he can tell you about Congress." 

Then all centered on the question : 

" How about the Indian Appropriation Bill? Will they do 
anything about provision for these Navajoes ? " 

I replied that to the best of my knowledge and belief, Congress 
had made no special provision for the Navajo Agency, and 
pending the present issue in National aifairs, probably would 
not. Then every man in the outpost looked as if all his rela- 
tions had just died insolvent. General assent was given to the 
remarks of one employe : 

" There'll be another Navajo war, and we'll all have to clear. 
These are the best Indians on the continent, willing to work, 
and don't want to fight. But, d — n it, they can't starve to 
death right here. We've destroyed their living; run off all the 
game and shut 'em up here, and their crops failed two years. 
If we were in their place, we'd fight. They must steal, ot 



524 AGENCY MATTERS. 

Starve, or fight, one o' the three. Ain't a man here in Govern- 
ment employ that's been paid a cent for twelve months. They'll 
give the Apaches sugar and coffee and flour, because they're a 
murderin' and robbin', and won't give these men anything be- 
cause they've been peaceable for eight years, and these fellows 
know it, too. Well, they'll be another Navajo war, — that's what 
they'll be." 

Defiance is only nominally a fort. There is no military post, 
no soldiers, and only twenty whites all told — four American 
ladies, one Mexican and fifteen Americans, all employes of the 
agency. Mr. James H. Miller, Agent of the Navajoes, was 
absent on an expedition to the San Juan country, and his place 
supplied by Mr. Thomas V. Keams, the clerk. The other 
officials and employes were: J. Miller, carpenter; W. Burgess, 
blacksmith; J. Dunn, wagonmaster; Perry H. Williams and 
Ezra Hoag, "on issue of rations;" A. C. Damon, butcher, and 
Andrew Crothers, in charge of grain room. The religious and 
medical staff constitute an entirely separate department. The 
physician, Dr. J. Menaul, was also a minister, and held service 
every Sunday ; and his lady, Mrs. Menaul, was the teacher em- 
j^loyed for the Navajoes. John H. Van Order acted as interpreter 
from English into Spanish, and Jesus Alviso from Spanish into 
Navajo, both employed by the Government and both necessary 
to a perfect intercourse. Nearly all the employes understood a 
little Navajo, but not enough to interpret. 

As I had to travel with them for some weeks, I set in most 
industriously to learn the language, and at the end of half a 
day's hard work had mastered two words, viz. : "Ah tee ehee " 
{" What is that ?"), and " loot chsin" (" money"). It is the most 
difficult of all American tongues, and the more complex portions 
of it have never been learned by white men. I give in the two 
words above the nearest possible sound in English letters, but 
no alphabet of civilized men can represent the Navajo language. 
It combines the worst features of the French, German and 
Chinese ; it is extremely nasal, extremely guttural, and abounds 
in sibilants and triple consonants. A word of three syllables 
begins very high in the nose, and ends very deep in the throat, 



NAVAJO LANGUAGE. 



525 




NAVAJO BOY. 



with a sharp hiss on the middle syllable. In the three letters, 
c h s,l have designated a sound which no American can pro- 
duce exactly, but near enough for a Navajo to recognize it. 
Accepting the theory of the French Academy as to the " origin 
of language," I should say this language was nearly in its 
original form, certainly not more than one or two thousand 
years old ; and that it originated directly from imitations of the 
animals, particularly the owl, the snake, and the coyote. 

Mr. B. M. Thomas, post farmer, constitutes a department by 
himself, appointed by the Indian Bureau; and the Navajoes are 
laboring zealously under his instructions. In the ecclesiastical 
division of the Indian tribes, this region fell to the Presby- 
terians, and their Board recommends these officers. Mr. Lionel 
Ayers fills the position of Post Trader, appointed neither by 
Church nor State, but vouched for by the agent, and licensed 



52G STARTLING NEWS. 

by the Secretary of War. The agent and farmer liad their 
■wives here, the pliysieian his wife and sister, bringing up the 
population of this strange isolated community to a total of 
twenty whites — sixteen men and four ladies: all interesting as 
occupants of the last outpost, on my route, of civilization. 
From here my companions for a dreary four hundred miles 
were to be Moquis and Navajoes. 

As it was but seventy miles to the De Chaco ruins, I was 
making ready to visit them with Navajo guides, when the news 
of an unlooked for tragedy reached us, and threw the little 
community into a state of consternation. 

We were seated at breakfast the morning of the 13th, -when 
one of the party which had gone to San Juan arrived, com- 
pletely exhausted, and announced that Agent Miller had been 
murdered, and all their horses stolen but one; that he had 
started immediately with that, and the rest of the party were 
coming afoot. Next day the others arrived, quite worn out, 
having walked a hundred miles in three days, carrying their 
bao-o-acre. Their account is as follows : The partv, consisting 
of Agent ]Nriller, B, M. Thomas, (Agency Farmer,) John Ayers 
and the Interpreter, Jesus Alviso, left Defiance on the 4th of 
June, to inspect the San Juan Valley, with a view of locating 
the Navajo Agency there. The examination was most satisfac- 
tory, as they found one fertile and beautiful valley near the 
river, capable of being irrigated by a single acecquia, and suffi- 
cient to support the whole tribe. At the same time, three 
others left the settlements on a prospecting tour, reached San 
Juan one day after the Agent's party, and were camped twelve 
miles from them on the bluff. Neither party dreamed of 
danger from the Utes, as that tribe had been at peace many 
years ; and, though they annoyed the Navajoes greatly, had not 
molested white men. On the morning of the 11th, just at 
dawn. Miller's companions were awakened by the report of a 
gun and whistling of an arrow, both evidently fired within 
half a dozen rods of them. They sprang to their feet, and saw 
two Utes run into the brush ; ten minutes afler they saw them 
emerge from the o|iposite side of the thicket, and ride up the 



MURDER OF AGENT MILLER. 527 

bluff, driving the company's horses before them. They did not 
know, at first sight, that the Utes 'were hostile, or that they 
had fired at them. Jolin Ayers spoke to Miller, who did not 
reply; he then shoved him with his foot, still he did not wake. 
They pulled off his blanket, and found him dead. The Ute's 
bullet had entered the top of his head and passed down behind 
his right eye, without disarranging his clothing in the slightest. 
His feet were crossed, and hands folded exactly as when he 
went to sleep; his eyes were closed, and lips slightly parted 
into a faint smile, as if from a pleasant dream — all showed 
beyond doubt that he had passed from sleep to death without a 
struggle or a sigh. 

Thus died James H. Miller, a true Christian, faithful official, 
and a brave man. He was a native of Huntington County, 
Pennsylvania, enlisted in the Fifty-fifth Pennsylvania Volun- 
teers, and served three years and four months, most of the time 
as Lieutenant in Company H. He was appointed Agent of 
the Xavajoes, in December, 1870, entered on his duties soon 
after, and in the midst of discouragement. The annuity for 
the previous year was exhausted ; the crops had partially failed, 
and in 1871 the failure was total. On the verge of starvation, 
the Navajoes were still kept in tolerable order by his exertions, 
until the next annuity arrived ; and he was carrying out more 
extended plans for their benefit at the time of his death. He 
Avas a devout Presbyterian, and an earnest supporter of what is 
technically called "the humanitarian Indian policy." The 
race lost an active friend by his death. The grief of the Nava- 
joes was profound and unaffected. His companions and the 
mining party buried him near where he was killed. His wife 
and infant son were at Defiance, but started to the States in a 
few days with the military express. 

A general Ute war was apprehended, and all thoughts of an 
expedition in that direction were abandoned. I wandered 
about the Navajo country, gathering curious stones, and study- 
ing the " lay of the country ; " but mostly amused myself by 
taking notes of the Indians. Their condition was worse than 
ever before. The last grain in the Agency storehouse was 



528 HARD TIMES. 

issued to them on the 14th, and most of them looked lean and 
liungry enough. They began on tlieir horses and sheep, liaving 
decided to eat their old horses and wethers first, saving the 
ewes and goats to the last ; for these are more hardy, and 
besides, their milk is an important item. As long as there was 
grain, we purchased goat's milk of them, paying in grain ; and 
I found it very palatable and nutritious. But I did not relish 
the flesh, finding it rather rank and stringy. I did not taste 
horse-flesh, though in my visits to some of the more distant 
hor/ans, I found them gnawing away at what looked suspi- 
ciously like equine shanks. The white men who have eaten it 
say it is very nourishing, but I am too old now to overcome 
my early prejudices. The Agency employes had not been 
paid for a year, and as they have to buy their own provisions, 
things looked blue for them. When I first arrived, they were 
faring sumptuously on coffee, bacon, bread, potatoes, and goat's 
milk; but one by one, our luxuries vanished, and for the last 
three days we lived on Navajo bread, coffee, and "commissary 
butter," straight. 

In all their troubles the Navajoes are lively, cheerful and 
looking for better times. To see ten thousand people able and 
willing to do almost any kind of work, -with natural talents of 
no mean order, and most anxious to improve, to see such a 
people shut up on this barren plateau, and kept out of that part 
of their country in which they could live, literally perishing 
without a chance to help themselves, M'as enough to sadden 
even a hard heart. What would a community of ten thousand 
whites do in such a case ? Who, if anybody, is to blame, I do 
not know. The melancholy facts I saw. 

But Congress did not adjourn without passing the Indian 
Appropriation Bill, and soon the Superintendent at Santa Fe 
sent them grain enough to last till a new crop came in. There 
was rejoicing in the hogans in consequence. The Navajoes are 
the original Romans of New Mexico and Arizona. For two 
hundred years they carried on almost continual war with the 
Spaniards, disdaining all offers of peace or alliance, and preying 
upon the valley of the Rio Grande. At length each separate 



THE NAVAJO WAR. 529 

Mexican settlement adopted the plan of buying off its nearest 
Navajo neighbors, paying tribute to one band to guard them 
against the rest. This succeeded admirably until the American 
occupation ; then the " Greasers," emboldened by the idea that 
our army would protect them, refused the tribute; and the 
Navajoes descended in three bands, and swept several settle- 
ments clean of their stock. They committed their worst 
depredations all around, and within twenty miles of, the last 
division of Kearney and Doniphan's forces. 

A flaming proclamation of war was issued, and of the results 
the report of J. Madison Cutts, with the army, speaks thus 
cautiously : 

"The campaign against the Navajoes was accomplished in 
the dead of winter, without supplies or tents. He succeeded in 
forming a treaty with these troublesome Indians, represented 
as more warlike than the Mexicans, to whom they were a great 
source of dread and injury, on the 22d of November, 184G»" 
The fact was, our army could not then afford to go to war with 
a brave and desperate race in such a country as the Navajoes 
occupied. 

Occasional difficulties took place until Fort Defiance was 
established, in 1850. Then there was peace for seven years. 
In 1857 a negro slave of Major Brooks, an officer stationed 
there, had a difficulty with a Navajo sub-chief. The friendly 
and compliant manners of the Indians had led the soldiers to 
consider them cowardly as well as peaceable. The negro 
passed the chief on the parade ground one day, and turning 
behind him, gave him a violent kick. The Navajo whirled 
about and let fly an arrow, which passed entirely through the 
negro, who fell dead. The Indian fled to the mountains; the 
tribe refused to surrender him, and another war began, and 
lasted, with but slight intermission, until 1864. The National 
officers found it impossible to conquer the Navajoes except by 
destroying their stock. It is reported that over fifty thousand 
sheep were bayoneted. One little valley, a few miles from 
Defiance, is almost literally paved with the skeletons of sheep 
destroyed there to prevent the Navajoes from using them. 
* 34 



530 ABANDONED FIELDS. 

The Utes also drove away many thousands, and this tribe was 
completely beggared. But before they were entirely subju- 
gated, the Texan invasion of 1861-2 took place, compelling the 
abandonment of this post and Wingate, and the Xavnjoes had 
things their own way again. 

In 1863 General W. H. Carleton led an army thither, com- 
pletely destroyed their means of subsistence, and induced the 
whole tribe to surrender. They had not a sheep left, and very 
few horses. Numbering ten thousand, they were taken In a 
body to the Fort Sumner reservation, where small-pox and en- 
demic fever preyed upon them, and one-eighth of the entire 
tribe perished. The venereal poison also was there introduced 
.among them, which has destroyed many. In 1868 their great 
Chief, Barboncito, made such representations to General Sherman 
as induced him to consent to their return here. They Avent 
zealously to work,- and In 1870 raised about half a crop. The 
seeds furnished by the department were unsuited to this high 
altitude, and most of their plants were cut off by the September 
frosts. In 1871, they planted extensively, worked hard, and 
had every prospect of an abundant crop, when, on the night of 
May 30, came a storm unprecedented in this region ; the ground 
was covered an inch thick with sleet, and every plant and young 
fruit tree frozen solid to the ground. The annuity goods and 
provisions of that year Avere soon exhausted, and theft or starva- 
tion was the only alternative. But the sheep given by the 
Government had increased rapidly, and are now numbered at 
thirty thousand in the tribe. Their liorses are returned at 
twenty thousand. The difficulties In the way of Improving 
their condition are many : they are a pastoral rather than an 
agricultural people ; their most fertile and extensive valley, on 
the San Juan, they can not now farm on account of the Utes, 
and many other valleys formerly productive are now barren on 
account of the four years' drought. Xear where I crossed the 
Puerco is a beautiful valley from which, as Mr. Dunn informs 
me, when he was a soldier here, they hauled fifty wagon-loads 
of corn, and destroyed on the ground a hundred more. Now, 
no cultivation could raise a grain there. The Puerco at that 



THE NAVAJO DEVIL. 



531 



point, in the dry .season of 1858, Imd a current a rod wide and 
two feet deep ; now it looks as if water had never run there 
since the creation. The " big field," two miles south of Defiance, 
which produced seventy bushels of corn per acre five years ago, 
can not now be cultivated at all. A small river ran there, 
which is now totally dry. I am inclined to think that this 
country has wet and dry cycles, of ten years or more each. 
Neither snow nor rain enough has fallen within the last two 
years to make up the moisture of one of the wet months in 
former times. 

Mrs. Charity Menaul, the teacher, reports considerable pro- 
gress among the Navajoes under her charge. In my visits 
there and talks at the 
hor/ans, I learned many 
interesting particulars of 
Navajo theology, etc. 
I^ike most savage races, 
their religion is princi- 
pally superstition. CJiin- 
(lay, the devil, is a more 
important personage in 
all their daily affairs 
than Whaillahay, the 
god. Like the Mor- 
mons, Shakers, and other 
white schismatics, they 
attribute everything they 
don't like in other people 
to tiie personal agency 
of the devil ; and about 
the only use of their god 
is to protect them from 

the devil. They have a tradition of a flood, but think that was 
caused by the devil damming the rivers. Their moral code is 
extremely vague: whatever is good for the tribe or band is in 
general right ; whatever is x\oi pro bono publico is wrong. Cow- 
ards, after death, will become coyotes; while braves will con- 




KATAJO MATROX. 



532 GRITTY BREAD. 

tinue men in a better country. Women will change to fish for 
awhile, and afterwards to something else. But they don't 
trouble themselves nmch about the next world. If they had 
l)lenty in this, they would consider themselves in luck. 

The luxuries of life are not obtainable at Defiance, some 
things we should call necessaries are rather scarce. Navajo 
flour is the only kind used. The first meal I was delighted to 
see our Indian servant bring in what I recognized as an old 
Yankee acquaintance — "Graham biscuits;" though they looked 
rather more coarse and lumpy than the Eastern kind. The first 
mouthful I thought was half dirt; it "gritted" so on my teeth 
that I could not restrain an expression of disgust. At this my 
Iiostj Mr. Keams, acting agent, apologized by saying that the 
" Navajoe grindstones were soft, and left rather more grit in the 
flour than he liked." A few meals soon reconciled me to this 
grit, and I am convinced that Navajo flour makes the most 
wholesome bread in the world. The grinding is done by women, 
who become quite skilful. The lower stone is some eighteen 
inches long, sloping a little from the worker. The upper stone 
is about six inches square. The woman lays a clean sheep-skin 
on the ground, sits on one side of it with the wheat by her, and 
the stones in front; then rakes the wheat up by a regular motion 
of the left hand running the small stone over the other with the 
right. The wheat rolling down as she grinds, is reduced to a 
fine pasty flour. For corn two or three women usually grind 
together, each one passing it to the next, who reduces it to a 
finer consistency. In their bright-colored garments, with long 
black hair swaying as they move their bodies back and forward, 
a group of them looks very picturesque, if not neat; while at 
work they sing a monotonous song, which sounds very much 
like our rural " Barbara Allen," in very slow time. For their 
own use they make of this pasty flour a very thin mixture, no 
thicker than starch, which they cook on hot stones. The fire is 
built in a small hole, on which is placed the flat stone, no more 
than an inch thick ; when sufficiently hot, the squaw thrusts her 
hand into the starchy solution, and rapidly draws a handful, 
which she spreads upon the stpne. In a half-minute it is cooked 



LANGUAGE AND CUSTOMS. 



533 




NAVAJOE ''GRISTMILL." 

ill the form of a thin brown wafer, no thicker than card board. 
Another follows, and another, until the cooked wafers form a 
layer some six inches thick. They then roll them up in shape con- 
venient to carry. Half a gallon of the thin paste of flour will 
make a roll the size of a half-bushel. That I have eaten has a 
rather insipid taste, from the want of salt or other seasoning; 
but it is very nutritious and strengthening. The bread they 
made of corn I find very palatable. Two bushels of wheat is a 
day's grinding for one squaw. They complain that the stone 
hereabout is very poor for grinding, wearing out in a few days, 
and leaving too much grit in the flour. Our bread was regu- 
larly prepared in a stove, and our Indian cook displayed some 
skill; besides, when accustomed to it, I found it very pala- 
table, and while using it my digestion was simply perfect. I 
spent many hours every day in the hogans of the Navajoes, 
trying, when they were in a teaching humor, to catch the peculiar 
click of their language. I soon acquired some fifty words, and 
began to see something like system in the language. 

Their social customs and adornments have a singular resem- 
blance to those of the Japanese. They treat their women as 
well as most white nations. Men do the out-door work, women 
that of the household. The latter are very communicative, 
humorous and mirthful, and nothing seemed to amuse them so 
much as my attempts at their language, at which they would 
listen and laugh by the hour. They say that a woman first 



534 



STRANGE PRACTICE. 



taught tliera how to weave blankets and make water-jars, for 
which cause it is a point of honor with a Navajo never to strike 
a woman. Their women are not overworked or abused, and are 
consequently more shapely and graceful than those of other 
tribes. It is a singular sight to witness an Indian carrying a 
baby, while the squaw walks unweighted, but one may see it 
every day about Defiance. They formerly captured many 
Mexican women, whom they adojited and married, which may 
have produced some change in the general characteristics of the 
tribe. They are the only wild tribe I know who do not scalp 

dead enemies. They never 
had that practice. In fact, 
they never touch a dead body, 
even of their own people. 
Each hor/an is so construct- 
ed that the weight rests 
mostly on two main beams. 
When one dies in a hogaUy 
they loosen these two outside, 
and let it drop upon him. 
If one dies on the plain, they 
pile enough stones upon him 
to keep otf the coyotes, but 
never touch the body. This 
observance is a serious draw- 
back in one respect: it pre- 
vents them from building 
permanent dwellings. It is 
said to be a part of their 
religion, but from the confused accounts I have of it, I draw 
the conclusion that it originated in some great plague, where 
contagion resulted from touching the corpse. They are very 
inquisitive; a watch or pocket-compass will interest them for 
hours. If I were in the mission business, I would rather be a 
missionary among the Navajoes than any savage people 1 know 
of, for here is some native mental activity to worlv upon. But their 
language would present a great barrier to Christianizing them. 




NAVAJO BELLE. 



" EL-SOO-SEE EN-NOW-LO-KYH." 535 

They unconsciously perpetrated a small joke on the writer. 
There are so few white men there that they know every stranger, 
and generally give him a name. In my wanderings among 
them, I frequently heard them speak of En-now-lo-kyh, some- 
times joined with the word el-soo-see, and as I stooped to enter 
a liogan, could sometimes hear the head of the family call to 
order with '^ Hah-koh ! El-soo-see En-now-lo-kyh !" Learning 
that this was my Navajo name, I sought the interpreter, highly 
flattered at my noble title, to learn its meaning. A broad grin 
adorned his features as he informed me that the two words, 
translated literally, meant " Slim-man-with-a-white-eye." Feel- 
ing this to be somewhat personal, and iuferentially abusive, I 
had him explain somewhat of my business to them and construct 
a name indicative of my profession; and henceforth I hope to 
become historical among the Navajoes by an unpronounceable 
word of six syllables, meaning in English '' Big Quill." 

When a communication is twice translated, it triples the am- 
biguity ; and that is the method employed with them ; one 
interpreter speaks English and Spanish, the other Spanish and 
Navajo. I made my remarks in the plainest, most terse English 
I could command, which the American translated into the florid 
Castilian ; this, in turn, the Spaniard rendered in the hissing, 
complicated phrases and cumbrous polysyllables of the aborigi- 
nal tongue. 

But while pleasantly employed in labors philological, ethno- 
logical and antiquarian, the second week of my visit came an 
officer from Wingate, bringing letters from Santa Fe and news 
of such a storm of wrath at the writer, that it would seem the 
roar might have been heard over the Sierra Madre. Santa Fe 
was in a white heat of indignation, and my name was coupled 
every hour of the day with the most opprobrious epithets two 
languages could furnish. My letters from that virtuous city to 
the Cuiclnnati Commercial had come to hand in due time; an 
indignation meeting of Jews and Mexicans decided that the 
public mind must be informed how badly I had slandered 
Santa Fe, and one of the former was deputed to squelch me. 
He prepared a three-column broadside, which was sent to the 



536 SANTA FE AGAIN. 

Commercial and various Western papers, setting forth the 
"damning facts" that my associations in Santa Fe were not of 
the best, etc., etc. 

Now, I have just this much of an apology to make to Santa 
Fe: I saw, in two days there, that it was a queer place; and, 
when I began to take the evidence of old residents, I saw tliat 
if I published the half that was told me I should stir up a beauti- 
fid row. Therefore I carefully took down each man's name and 
his evidence, with a note of his facilities for getting information ; 
and then, duly mindful of the religious character of the Com- 
mercial, I expunged all the really vile and loathsome portions 
of the testimony, and only sent the mildest statements. I find 
on my note-book the names of seventeen citizens who gave me 
their testimony. They begin with Honorables and Reverends, and 
run down to hotel- waiters and black boys. If the citizens of the 
" City of Holy Faith " are distressed about the photograph I took 
of them, I can furnish them some pretty respectable authorities. 

I have since suspected that some of the young fellows were 
trying how big a lie they could tell ; and as they were the ones 
most enraged, if their reputations have suffered, they have no 
one but themselves to blame. 

Moral : Don't vote the next stranger a fool because he hap- 
pens to have a halt in one foot or a cast in one eye ; but wait 
and see if he is *'a chiel a takin' notes," before you try how 
big a lie you can tell about your own town. 

But if they feel sore over my light touches, what do they 
think of the following, written by a brave soldier who had spent 
three years of service in the two Territories ? With a little 
toning down it strikes me as a pretty correct picture. I expur- 
gate the worst passages : 

ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO. 



Having seen many illuminated oil paintings and water-color sketches of this 
" Terrestrial Paradise," I beg leave to present my photograph for inspection. 

PRINTED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE AUTHOR. 



Fierce Mars I bid a glad farewell, 
And turn my back upon Bellona, 

To jjhotograph in doggerel 
New Mexico and Arizona. 



POETICAL TOPOGRAPHY. 



637 




ARIZONA LANDSCAPE. 

The stinging grass and tliorny plants 
And all its prickly tropic glories, 

The thieving, starved inhabitants, 
Who look so picturesque in stories. 

The dusty, long, hot, dreary Avay, 

Where 'neath a blazing sun you totter, 

To reach a camp at close of day 
And find it destitute of water. 



The dying mule, the dried-up spring, 
Which novel writers seldom notice ; 

The song the blood mosquitoes sing. 
And midnight howling of coyotes. 

Tarantulas and centipedes, 

Horn'd toads and piercing mezquit daggers, 
With thorny bushes, grass and weeds 

To bleed the traveler as he staggers. 

Why paint things in a rosy light. 
And never tell the simple fact thus — 

How one sits down to rest at night, 
And ofter squats upon a cactus ? 

As desert, mountain — rock and sand — 
Comprise the topograjAic features, 

There's little left at my command 
Except to paint the living creatures. 

In point of energy and sense, 
The wild Apaches are the head men. 

And so, in fairness, I commence 
To tell you something of the red men. 



538 A CABALLERO. 

Each mountain chain contains a hive 
Of these marauding sons of thunder. 

Who somehow manage and contrive 
To live u^jou mescal and plunder. 

Too long my pen has dwelt upon 
These foes to railroads, soai> and labor, 

A few short years, and they are gone 
Beyond the reach of prayer or saber. 

Now turn we to another race 

Inliabiting this sunny region, 
In calm and fearless truth to trace 

Their manners, habits and religion. 

There is no fairer law than that 
Which gives to Cajsar what is Caesar's, 

Yet this is not a land of fat 
Because the i3eo2)le are called Greasers. 

These natives, in a Yankee's eyes. 

Have neither virtue, brains nor vigor — 

A most unhappy comiiromise 

Between the Ingin and the nigger. 

Their language is a mongrel whine, 

From which the meaning seems to vanish, 

Like strength from lager beer or wine — 
A jjarody ujjon the Spanish. 

On what they live — besides the air — • 

You may perhaps be interested ; 
They have as queer a bill of fare 

As human stomach e'er digested. 

They eat frijoles, came, (free-ho-lays, car-nay) corn, 

And on a hog's intestines riot; 
Tortillas, sheeps-head (hair and horn). 

With chile (chee-la) for the favorite diet. 

But little care he ever feels, 

So he but apes the Spanish hero, 

Witli monstrous S]nirs upon his heels. 
And on his head a broad sombrero. 

He looks so grim and full of fight, 

Yoii might suppose his temper soured; 

But danger turns him nearly white, 
And proves the hero is a coward. 



MANNERS AND MORALS. 539 

He grimly scowls at Gringo jokes, 

Though he has not a single ilaco, 
With dignity he eahnly smokes 

His cigarette of bad tobacco. 



Smoking and lolling in the shade, 
Their lazy souls no thought perplexes ; 

But make a chimney undismayed 
Out of the noses of both sexes. 



They tell a thousand barefaced lies. 
To all the saints in heaven appealing 

Confess their sins with tearful eyes, 
Devoutly jjray — but keep on stealing. 

They go to church, believe in hell, 

(Where their own torment must be hot one- ), 
They play on fiddles, ring a bell. 

And worship God with drums and shot-guns. 



Upon their heads in triumph reign 

Great swarms of vermin, fat and saucy; 
Those rovers of the Spanish mane, 
Cruise fearless o'er an ocean glossy. 

Their moae of travel on the road 
W oul(i frighten one who never met a 

Dirty, screaming, stupid load 
Of Greasers in an old currcta. 



Great wooden wheels, devoid of grease, 
And oxen rushing with a vengeance — 

A noise like forty thousand geese. 
Or like a score of new steam-engines. 



They plow the soil with forked logs, 
For fuel dig the earth with shovels, 

Cut grass with hoes, chain up their hogs, 
And keep their horses in their hovels. 

When Gabriel plays his final trump, 
And all the nations are paraded 

For grand inspection in a lump. 
This breed will jirove the most degraded. 



640 A DESIRED IMPROVEMENT. 

An earthquake which should sink the land, 

Some great subterranean motion, 
And leave this tract of barren sand 

The pavement of a heaving ocean , 

Some huge convulsive water shake. 

Some terrible spasmodic movement, 
Subsiding but to leave a lake, 

Would be a most desired improvement. 

I've not, in picturing this clime, 

Been either brilliant or pathetic, 
But told of facts in simple rhyme. 

By far more truthful than poetic. 

My photograph, I must confess, 

The country does by no means flatter — 

The people and their customs less. 

But it is true — that's Avhat's the matter. 

If any think me too severe. 

Or call my yarn a wicked libel, 
I'll take, to prove myself sincere, 

My " davy " on a Mormon Bible. 

The author of this "pome" had to fly the country. His 
picture is a little overdrawn, but there is too much truth for a 
joke in it. 




CHAPTER XXVI. 

A HIDE THROUGH WONDERLAND. 

Diamonds ! perhaps — Curious stones in Arizona — Navajo country — Kindness 
of Agent Keams — Navajo Forest — Entering De Chelley — The " Cliff Cities " — 
An evening of beauty — Out upon the Desert — Water! Water !— Sickness and 
exhaustion — Navajo doctoring — Climbing for water— Down again, and night- 
ride — Camp at last — " IJah-koh Melicano ! " — Reach Moqui — Curious people — 
Chino and Misiamtenah — " Moquis steal nothing." 

j^aREAT events — if rumors and excitements may be styled 
events — were about to occur in relation to the country I 
was traversing ; but happily I was ignorant thereof. 
s^ For had I turned aside from my regular business to 
hunt diamonds, I should undoubtedly have been so 
much poorer from time lost, and the public poorer by lack of 
needed information. In my excursions about the Navajo 
country I had everywhere remarked the strange abundance of 
curious and sparkling stones. Quartz crystals might have been 
gathered by the bushel. Every Indian had a pint or so of 
garnets — none of them particularly valuable; and common 
turquoises were so plentiful that many a Navajo belle was 
adorned with a string of them, ground into octagon shape and 
worn as beads. Many other curious stones I saw, of which I 
did not know the name. Continual discussion was in progress 
among the Agency employes as to whether it was, or was not, a 
diamond country ; and a little book on " Diamond IVIines," be- 
longing to Mr. Keams, was read almost to pieces. My Navajo 
companions on our trips brought me great quantities of glassy 
pebbles, of which I selected only the most curious. Had I 
known then what thousands of people learned after they in- 
vested, I would have known that the beautiful glitter of the 
rude pebble was proof positive it was not a diamond. 

541 



542 PRECIOUS STONES. 

"All is not gold that glitters," to which the practical minor 
adds, " Nothing is gold that glitters in the mine;" for native 
gold is rather a dull mineral. Similarly : "All that sparkle are 
not diamonds," and nothing that sparkles in its native state is 
a diamond; for a native diamond is just such a rough stone as 
the unscientific would invariably reject as a dull pebble. Only 
the practiced eye can detect it. The brilliant hues are in it, 
someioJierc ; but only the lapidary's skill can give their bright- 
ness show. However, Ave did not know that so well then as we 
did three months afterwards; and when one Dr. Stallo, jeweler, 
of San Francisco, arrived at Defiance Avith a small party and 
provisions for six months, to gather diamonds, we considered 
the matter about settled. 

On the ant-hills all over that part of Arizona one can often 
find numbers of small garnets, brought there by the ants. It 
is generally supposed that they bring up the bright stones and 
shining gravel found on the hills, from their chambers below; 
but Indians and old plainsmen say this is an error, and that 
they bring them from a distance, and pile them on the dirt 
mound to make a hard, firm surface. They are evidently at- 
tracted by bright articles, whether from a sense of beauty or 
otherwise, and I liave found on their mounds garnet, flakes of 
mica, fused quartz, and many grains of glassy stones. A species 
of aqua-marine is very plentiful, of every size from a grain of 
wheat to a large cherry. The post trader at Defiance had a 
quart or so of these, which looked to me like those used as 
watch crystals. A few very fine sapphires had been found, one 
of which M'as taken to New York and cut, proving quite 
valuable. Opals have been found farther north, but rarely. 
There were no specimens there. One "spinel ruby," of consid- 
erable value, was found, and many had stones which they be- 
lieved to be diamonds. Those shown to me were only fused 
quartz, or other vitreous stones. Malachite is found there in 
small chips, a half inch or an inch square; but during my stay 
an Indian brought from some ]>lace south a slab of it three 
inches long. Some beautiful turquoises were found in the same 
neighborhood, and many inferior ones. The country abounds 



TOPOGRAPHY. 543 

in curious petrifactions, and more fossils than Agassiz could 
classify in a hundred years. It presents to me the appearance 
of a country in which rivers were once numerous and animal 
life abundant; but sudden drought came upon it, the rivers 
dried up, and the plants and animals turned to stone. In 1871, 
some men came here from San Francisco and spent the summer 
in collecting stones, supposed to be precious, of which they took 
away three or four bushels; and it was reported that they 
obtained from the whole mass over a million dollars worth of 
garnets, rubies, turquoises, and diamonds. Dr. Stallo went 
south from Defiance to the region where malachite abounds, 
expecting to find turquoises in the same vicinity. Whether 
they are riglit in their theory that the country has the exact 
formation for a diamond region, I can not say. It is an elevated 
sandstone country, with few living streams and many dry river- 
beds, with heaps, of wash gravel, shells and curious petrifactions, 
but no indications of recent volcanic action. Coal indications 
are not infrequent. There is one considerable vein a few miles 
east of Defiance. Whether these facts do or do not indicate 
precious stones, quien sabe f 

Defiance is located on some maps directly on the Territorial 
line ; by others in New Mexico, and by others, still, some sixty 
miles west of the line in Arizona. It is, in fact, three miles 
due \vest of the surveyed line. On maps of later date you will 
find a Fort Canby in New Mexico, and Defiance in Arizona. 
They are the same, called by different names. The situation is 
pleasant and romantic. The Benito Hills, averaging five hun- 
dred feet above the plain, run directly north and south. On 
the west side of them is a vast inclosed basin, from which 
Canon Benito breaks directly through the hills — a sharp, abrupt 
gorge, square across the formation, with perpendicular walls 
entirely inaccessible. The east end of the caiion broadens into 
a little valley, at the mouth of which, though out on the plain, 
the fort is situated. A large river once ran through the gorge, 
of which the successive periods can be traced on the sandstone 
walls to a hight of two hundred feet. This seems to have 
been the original bottom of the caflon^ whence the river steadily 



544 WALKING CATFISH. 

cut deeper until it had completely drained the basin above. 
The river had long been diy when the fort was located, but 
several springs in the east end of the caiion created a stream 
snfficent to irrigate two sections of the land on the plain. Here 
the Navajoes had raised corn and melons from time immemorial; 
they had no other vegetables when found by the whites. The 
present occupants of Defiance have thrown a dam across this 
end of the canon, producing a beautiful artificial lake some 
three hundred yards long, and rising so high as to leave barely 
room for a wagon road. The lake is strongly alkaline, but a 
few rods below is a strong spring of the nicest and purest water 
to be found in these mountains. It is the one important trea- 
sure of this post, which, without it, would be almost uninhabi- 
table. In the States towns are located according to convenience 
for trade ; in the mountains settlement is determined by the 
])resencc of never-failing water. The lake contains a ^species 
of "catfish with legs," \vhich are found in other alkaline lakes 
in this region. I give the name as used there, but think them 
a species of siredons — other species of which are found in the 
alkaline lakes of Wyoming. They have the botly and mouth 
of a catfish, with a very long tail, and four legs. At my 
request the Navajo boys shot their arrows through some of tiiem 
in the shallow water, and brought them ashore. They were 
ten inches in length, with teeth like common fish, and skin like 
catfish. Their legs were soft, but terminated in five claws as 
firm as the finger nail. They can climb a bank or travel over 
a dry bar, but never remain long out of water. 

Ten days among the " gentle savages " — for so the Navajoes 
appeared to me — had given me a rest, and I was ready to go 
west, expecting to accompany part of the tribe on their "sum- 
mer hunt" down the Colorado. But time was pressing, and 
I concluded to employ one to take me via De Chelley to the 
Moquis, where a trading party would overtake us, and go on 
to St. George, in Utah. Mr. Thomas V. Keams, Clerk and 
Acting Agent, outdid official courtesy to give me a good send- 
off; and calling in Juerro, war-chief of the tribe, together they 
selected a most intelligent young man of about twenty-five. I 



QUEER LANGUAGE. 545 

also procured gun, horse, and equipments, blankets and provi- 
sions at reasonable rates; for it takes an Indian to trade Nvith 
an Indian. I was to provision myself and one man to the 
Mormon settlements, and one man back, besides his fee. Thus 
ran the bill : Thirty pounds of flour, ten pounds of bacon, ten 
pounds of sugar, five pounds of coffee, and six boxes of sardines, 
the whole costing but twenty dollars. The same sum to my 
guides, and five dollars for the hire of a burro, made tiie total 
expense for a trip of nearly five hundred miles, forty-five 
dollars — not much more than railroad fare. My horse, bridle, 
saddle, lariat, gun (a Spencer) and two Navajo blankets cost me 
two hundred dollars; but these are not to be counted in the 
general expense, as they were worth nearly as much in Utah. 
My Navajo knew a few words of Spanish, perhaps fifty in all, 
about equal to my list in his language; but unfortunately for 
general conversation, our words covered about the same objects, 
such as travelers most frequently use. The following, from our 
common list, will enable Oriental scholars to trace considerable 
resemblance between Navajo and the Turanian tongues. (I re- 
present the sharp accent at the end of the word by doubling 
the final consonant, and the prolonged nasal sound by n h.) 



NAVAJO. 


MEXICAN-SPANISH. 


ENGLISH. 


Tohh, 


Agua, 


Water. 


Klohh, 


Cicata, 


Grass. 


Chizz, 


Brado, 


Wood. 


Knhuh, 


Lumbre, 


Fire. 


Klee, 


Caballo, 


Horse. 


Klitt, 


Fumo, 


Smoke, 


Hahkohh ! 


Veen ! 


Come! 


Tennehh, 


Hombre, 


Man. 



The numerals, as far as twenty, are as follows : Kli, nahkee, 
tah, dteen, estlahh, hostonn, susett, seepee, nastyy, niznahh, 
klitsetta, nahkeetsetta, tahtsetta, dteentsetta, estlahta, hostahhta, 
susetetta, seepetta, nastytsetta, nahta, nahta kli, nahta nah- 
kee, etc. 

June 18th, we were off at 10 a. m., the whole population 
(white) joining us in a "stirrup-cup," and waving a hearty 
good-bye. John, as I christened my Navajo companion, has an 
35 



54G NAVAJO PASTURES. 

intellect that is not to be sneezed at. He knows the whole 
country between the Big and Little Coloradoes like a book; 
and in the good old days before his tribe were bound by trou- 
blesome treaties, has been on many a trip to the Mormon settle- 
ments in the business of equine abduction. (Nobody steals 
now-a-days.) He rides a short burro, which carries in addition 
the flour and bacon ; while I ride a large, gray American horse 
and take charge of the sugars, coffee, and other light articles. 

Our direction is north by northwest to the head of Cailon de 
Chelley. All this part of Arizona consists of a succession of high, 
almost barren sandstone ridges, separated by narrow valleys 
abounding in rich grass. While on its eastern border I thought 
the Navajo Reservation a very poor strip — it contains nearly 
6000 square miles — but since I have seen more of it I think 
it will graze at least half a million sheep and goats, besides 
horses enough for the necessities of the tribe. 

Three miles out, a turn around a sandstone cliff brought to 
view a delightful surprise in the shape of a beautiful green 
valley, about a mile square, perfectly level and covered with 
grass a foot high. On every side of it rose bare columns and 
ridges of sand-rock, but from their base trickled here and there 
tiny rills of water — enough to keep the valley fertile. Herds 
of sheep and goats, attended by Navajo girls, and some horses 
attended by boys, enlivened the scene. Through this, and on 
to another sand ridge, then three miles more, brought us to a 
long narrow valley, winding for miles among the hills, and 
looking as if it had once been the bed of a river, and been 
heaved up by some convulsion. For hours we crossed such 
valleys every two or three miles, none of them more than a 
hundred yards wide, and separated by barren ridges. The 
grass in the valleys was rank and thrifty; the ridges had 
nothing but an occasional sprig of sage brush or cactus. Every- 
where along the grass plats were shepherd girls with consider- 
able flocks, each girl carrying a set of Navajo spools and a 
bunch of wool, on which she worked in the intervals of 
watching. These spools are very similar in shape to those 
used in our rural districts, but large and clumsy. With a 



NAVAJO FOREST. 547 

pointed stick, turned in the right hand, tlie spinner runs the 
wool on to the larger spool in rolls somewhat smaller than the 
little finger. Having filled it, and transferred to a smaller 
stick, she runs it to the smaller spool in the form of a very 
coarse yarn, when it is ready for the " filling " in a blanket. 
Herding is the most laborious work the Navajo girls have to 
do; they have all the advantages of the healthful climate, 
without the fatigue of long expedition, and are, as a rule, 
stronger and healthier than the men. They are the only 
Indian girls I ever saw who even approximate to the Cooper 
ideal. Their dress is picturesque, consisting of separate waist 
and skirt; the former leaves the arras bare, and is made loose 
above and neat at the waist ; the latter is of flowered calico, 
witii a leaning to red and black, and terminates just below the 
knee in black border or frills. Neat moccasins complete the 
costume, the limbs being left bare generally in the summer. 
They are very shapely and graceful, and their strength is pro- 
digious. How these mountaineers, on the thin food they have, 
manage to produce such specimens of perfect physical woman- 
hood, is a mystery to me. One of the prettiest girls I saw at 
Defiance, named " Zella " by the Teacher, who knew a little 
English, informed me that for months at a time she had 
nothing but goats' milk, boiled with a thin, watery root, which 
they use for food. Where goats' milk is plenty, the children 
thrive well on that alone. These shepherds are the best situ- 
ated of any part of the tribe, and their living, though plain, is 
not so uncertain as that of the cultivators. 

From the grazing region, we descended a slope of some two 
hundred feet to a w-ooded hollow, on the opposite side of which 
we encountered a rocky-faced hill, rising six or seven hundred 
feet, thick-set with scrubby pines, and barely accessible. Toil- 
ing, up this, with fi'equent rests when a " shoulder " of the rock 
gave our animals level standing room, we entered at the 
summit on the most magnificent forest I have seen since leaving 
California. The tall sugar pines, from three inches to two feet 
in thickness, mingled with a few dwarfish oaks, were scattered 
in regular proportion, and their branches completely excluded 



548 



BEAUTIFUL VALLEY. 




THROUGH .THE NAVAJO FOREST. 



the sunshine. A cold wind had cliilled us on the ridges, but 
in the forest there was a dead calm, though we could hear the 
breeze sighing far above us. This splendid natural park con- 
tinued for ten niilcs; then we descended to another valley, 
where the soil was evidently rich, though perfectly bare for 
want of water; but around the edges was a bordering meadow 
of good grass, spangled with I'cd and yellow flowers. This 
valley is an oval some five miles long, opening northward, and 
lacks only water to become a little Eden. From this we rose 
to another forest, also of sugar pines, but not so large or thrifty 
as the first. My guide informs me that *hese forests are as 
long as they are wide, and as we travele(> ' welve or fifteen 
miles through them, they must cover some *\vc hundred square 
miles. This will be a great source of weaUh to the Navajoes, 



INTO BAT CANON. 549 

it' they learn how to use it; for when the Atlantic and Pacific 
Railroad is completed, every section of this timber will be 
worth at least five thousand dollars. The timber continued to 
the entrance of Bat Canon, by which we enter the De Chelley. 
There my guide points to a side gulch, exclaiming, Tohh klohh 
no mas, and we stop for the night. Hoppling the horse for a 
night's grazing, we sample our provisions, with satisfactory 
results, and retire. Navajo blankets will not admit the moist- 
ure of the ground, even if there hi?d been any, whicTi there 
was not; and with two over me, and the saddle blanket below 
me, I was comfortable till toward morning, when the cold was 
more intense. 

June 19th. — We hasten to descend into the canon before 
the sun is high, going down the first hollow, which soon widens 
into a sandy plain, dotted with scrubby hemlocks, and some- 
times with timber of larger growth. The surroundings all 
show that we are on the Pacific coast : the dry, gray and yellow 
grass, straight sugar pines and scraggy hemlocks, and the soft 
airs loaded with resinous odors. We enter next upon a vast 
flat of sandstone, on which the little feet of Navajo burros 
have cut the trail into a groove two inches deep, and cross it to 
Bat Canon. The first view of it is frightful enough. We 
come suddeidy to an abruj)t break in the sandstone, no more 
than a rod wide, but down which we can look to the yellow 
bottom, fgleven hundred feet below. The trail runs along the 
cliff to a point where tlie canon has widened to a hundred 
yards; then enters a side cailoii, and leads down to the main 
one, and through a series of ro(;ky grooves vve work our way 
with slow and cautious steps. Making the packs and saddles 
fast, each man fixes his lariat to train over the horse's back ; 
gets behind, and slowlv urges him down the rocky incline. 
There are several places where even the thickness of a man's 
limb is too much, between the horse and the cliff, and he would 
suffer a fearful squeeze, or be the cause of throwing himself and 
horse hundreds of feet down the ragged rocks. We advance, 
perhaps, half a mile in descendino;, and near the bottom the 
caflon again narrows, and we pass under overhanging cliffs, 



550 



STRANGE FORMATION. 




WIND CARVINGS. 



through a gorge where the sun never shines, and thousands of 
gaunt bats, of a strange species, inhabit the crevices of the 
cliffs, and flit about in midday twilight. According to my 
guide, tills is the place by way of which cowardly Navajoes 
must enter the spirit land after death. 

Passing this the narrow wails give back, and we are in a 
valley with running water and occasional clumps of grass, a 
hundred yards wide, and bounded by perpendicular cliffs. As 
we proceed, the valley gets wider, but the walls appear to over- 
iiang rather than maintain a plumb line. Occasionally, an 
entirely detached rock is seen standing out from some sharp 
corner where there is a turn in the caiion, a sort of tower 
several hundred feet high, and no more than a hundred thick, 
its sides and summit cut into a thousand fanciful shapes by the 
action of sand and wind. Other pieces of the cliff seem to 



STONE MENAGERIE. 



551 



have slipped loose and 
slid down where there 
was a slight incline, and 
many such I saw of two 
hundred feet in hight, 
enormous slabs leaning 
against the wall. In 
other places portions of 
the stone were harder 
than the rest, and re- 
sisted the wearing pro- 
cess, and now stand out 
from the wall, or on the 
edge of the cliflP above 
in fanciful and gro- 
tesque likeness. Ele- 
phants, hippopotami, 
alligators, and most 
ludicrous human heads 
are seen from below ; 
and at one point, where 
the northern wall pro- 
jects some distance over 
its base, a gigantic bear 
seems to be plunging 
over from the summit. 

The cailon had .- 
widened into a con- ': 
siderable valley, with 
many strips of grass; y' 
when the guide called 
out, " mahloka !" 
(woman), and a shep- 
herd girl came spring- 
ing down over the leaning tower. 
rocks in a side gulch, 
so small, that I had not noticed it. She showed me, through 




552 THE THREE PEAKS. 

the narrow opening into the gulch, that the latter widened out 
behind the cliffs into a rocky valley where her herd of goats 
were feeding. She preferred the common request for chin-ne-ah- 
qo (bread), and in return for a small gift, conducted us to a 
plat of good grass, near the junction of Canon de Chelley, where 
we let our animals graze two hours, as I intended remaining in 
the canon all day. I have said that the Navajoes are apt, social, 
and industrious; but these virtues are balanced by some trouble- 
some vices: they will beg, and occasionally steal, in which they 
are like all other wild Indians. But, if you employ one, he will 
neither take nor let others take the value of a cent; in which 
they are unlike nearly all other Indians. We had scarcely got 
our baggage piled, before the whole community of three families 
were about us. I pacified them with tobacco, preferring, if we 
got into a strait, to do without that, rather than bread. 

Bat Canon there runs nearly straight west, and is joined by 
Canon de Chelley from the northeast; the meeting of the two and 
the turn below prtxluces three grand peaks, facing to one center, 
some fifteen hundred feet high, and quite perpendicular. But 
the most remarkable and unaccountable feature of the locality is 
where the two canons meet. There stands out a hundred feet 
from the point, entirely isolated, a vast leaning rock tower, at 
least twelve hundred feet high, and not over two hundred thick 
at the base, as if it had originally been the sharp termination of 
the cliff, and been broken off and shoved farther out. It almost 
seems that one must be mistaken, that it must have some con- 
nection with the cliff, until one goes around it and finds it a 
hundred feet or more from the former. It leans at an angle 
from the perpendicular, I should say, of at least fifteen degrees; 
and lying down at tlie base on the under side, by the best " sight- 
ing" I could make, it seemed to me that the opposite upper edge 
was directly over me. That is to say, mechanically speaking, 
its center of gravity barely falls within the base, and a heave of 
only a yard or two more would cause it to to|)ple over. Appear- 
ances indicate that it was originally connected with the point of 
the cliff, but the intermediate and softer sand-rock has fallen, 
been reduced to sand, and wafted away down the caiion. Climb- 



" ETTAH-HOGAXDAY. ' 553 

ing to some of the curious round holes in the cliff I could see 
the process of wear going on ; the harder particles of the sand 
being blown into the holes, were being whirled about by the 
wind, slowly and steadily boring into the clifiPs, and beginning 
that carving which is to result in more of the grotesque shapes. 

We were off at noon, after a light lunch, and while leaning 
on the pommel of my saddle in an after dinner rest, I M-as 
startled by a shout from my guide of " Ah-yee ! Ah-yee, Melicano, 
ettah-hogmiday ! " ("There, there, sir American; the mountain- 
houses.") Looking, I saw the first hamlet, a small collection of 
stone huts some fifteen hundred feet above the canon bed, and 
perhaps three hundred feet below the summit. One glance 
served to disprove many of the theories advanced about rope 
ladders and the like. It could not have been reached thus, for 
the cliff overhung considerably both above and below it. In- 
deed, a rope dropped from the brow of the cliff above would 
have swung over the canon a hundred feet farther out than the 
ledge on which the houses stood. As near as I could judge at 
the distance, the ledge was fifty feet wide, and the houses some 
twenty feet square. Evidently the "Aztecs" who boarded there 
did not go to bed by means of a rope ladder. 

My guide was now all life and animation, shouting and calling 
my attention to everything of note on the cliffs as we walked 
our horses slowly down the sandy stream. He seemed to take 
as much interest in the ettah-hoganday as I did. An hour 
more brought us to a better object of study : the ruins of 
a considerable village were on the bottom of the cailon, by 
the foot of the cliff, and about a hundred feet straight above 
them, ten or a dozen houses in perfect preservation, standing all 
together on a ledge a hundred feet wide, and completely inac- 
cessible. Above the village the cliff was perpendicular for a 
hundred feet or more, then gradually swelled outwardly till it 
extended considerably over the houses, leaving them thus actu- 
ally in a great crevice in the rock. Here was a wonder. My 
Navajo ran about with the activity of a cat, and in several places 
managed to climb up twenty feet or so, then the smooth wall 
cut off further progress. Hunting along the rock he found and 




" AII-YEE ! MELICANO, ETTAH IIOGANDAY 1" 



554 



INSPECTION OF THE BUILDINGS. 555 

called my attention to some holes looking like steps cut into the 
stone, which seemed to lead up to a point where one of the 
peculiar stone slabs I have described leaned against the cliff. 
The opposite side of the canon \vas accessible, and not more than 
two hundred yards distant, so we went over there and climbed 
to a point somewhat higher than the pueblo. I then saw that 
the ledge or groove in the rock, in which the pueblo was built, 
ran along the cliff for a quarter of a mile, some distance beyond 
where we found the stone steps; and thought I saw indications 
of steps, leading down from it a little way toward the detached 
slab. Possibly, I thought, this slab may have been fast above 
when the village had inhabitants, and furnished them a winding 
stairway. I saw also, that the houses were of a most admirable 
construction, built of flat stones laid in mortar, and neatly white- 
washed inside; and that the joists were of massive timber, round, 
nearly a foot thick, and dressed with some care. At the distance 
of seven or eight hundred feet there was much uncertainty, but 
I fancied I also saw fragments of iron and leather on the floor 
of one house — the only one into which the sunshine fell directly. 
From the situation of the cliffs, I judge that about 10 o'clock in 
the morning the sun would be shining directly in the front doors. 
A remarkable echo is observable here. A sentence of ten 
words shouted from the south side, is returned clearly and dis- 
tinctly. Not far below we found the ruins of another house, 
not more than forty feet high, with shelving rock below. The 
Navajo found steps to lead half way up. He then walked 
along a flat offset five or six feet below the house, and held his 
hands against my feet while I climbed a shelving rock and 
reached it. It was in ruins, and most of the material lay in a 
heap in the canon below. Only the fire-place and chimney, 
built against the clifP, remained whole; they were of the common 
Pueblo pattern, and showed dabs of whitewash. I sustained one 
serious disappointment. Through some blunder of my guide or 
the interpreter who instructed him at Defiance, I missed the 
greatest wonder. We ought to have turned up the Caiion de 
Chelley from where we entered it, and a mile or two would 
have brought us to the largest pueblo, one capable of containing 



556 HOW DID THEY REACH THEM? 

a thousand people, and situated on a ledge fifteen hundred feet 
above the canon and three hundred below the cliff. I had been 
told of this at Defiance, but through ignorance of the locality 
nu'ssed seeing it and several others. A lieutenant (name forgotten) 
from Wingate visited it some weeks before with ropes and a pow- 
erful field-glass. From the opposite side he saw the interior of 
most of the houses, all of the common pueblo style. They were 
neatly whitewashed, and the fragments of acquarra showed that 
they had translucent windows. Broken pottery lay about in 
heaps, but there were no skeletons or indications of any, show- 
ing either that the inhabitants had ample time to escape, or that 
time has destroyed all trace of them. This village, it is said, 
could be reached by ropes from above ; and as I have only 
partly attempted what ought to be well and scientifically done, 
I venture a suggestion. A party of half a dozen should start 
from Defiance, with ropes, a ladder or two, and powerful field- 
glasses; and thus several of the ruins could be reached. The 
country is perfectly safe, only two hundred and fifty miles from 
Santa Fe, and the Navajoes are the best of guides and servants. 

Many and various are the theories among the few whites who 
have visited these places as to their inhabitants, and how they 
reached their houses. Besides that of the rope ladders previ- 
ously mentioned, it is often suggested that the bed of the canon 
was at that hight when the houses were built, and has since 
washed down. But this will not do, for the plainest indications 
show that it would require, at the very least, a hundred thou- 
sand years for such a wearing down, or washing out, to take 
place. Besides, the best evidence shows that the canon is filling, 
instead of deepening, on account of the sand drifting down. In 
my opinion, these slabs of stone help to explain it. But this 
is only a venture, and whether there were once projections from 
the cliff sufficient to furnish a road, since fallen away, it will 
take more evidence to settle. I can only sum up as do other 
visitors : the houses are there, and I have seen them ; but how 
they got there is a mystery. 

Who were the inhabitants ? Pueblos, unquestionably, I think ; 
of the same general stock as the Moquis, Zunis and Teguas. 



WHO WERE THEY? 557 

The houses are an exact reproduction of those, formerly de- 
scribed, at the Pueblo de Laguna, including stone, mortar, 
towers, acquarra windows and whitewashed interior. The 
country once, no doubt, contained five times as many as to-dav, 
since swept off by increasing drought, Utes antl Apaches. 
Their whole existence was a continual war. They seem to have 
retreated from the lower valleys to the most hidden or defensi- 
ble canons, and then to these cliffs, where their horse-riding 
enemies could not follow them. There they pastured their 
goats in rugged gorges, and cultivated a few little patches 
where they could find water. They must often have suffered 
seasons of famine, and probably never had an abundance ; and, 
by the kind law of nature forbidding increase with no promise 
but want and misery, the nation slowly dwindled away. The 
Zuiiis, Moquis, New Mexican Pueblos and the Teguas, perhaps 
also the Pimoles and Maricopas, are their fragmentary surviv- 
ors. Their ruins, and broken pieces of their pottery, still attest 
their former extent. Agent Miller's party discovered on the 
San Juan the ruins of one pueblo which might have con- 
tained two thousand inhabitants : nor was it abandoned on 
account of drought : their acecquias still remain, and the San 
Juan is ample to fill them. 

The formation of Canon de Chelley is exclusively of sand- 
stone; I have, indeed, seen no other kind for a hundred miles. 
The cailon bed presents the appearance of a vast river of sand. 
As we journey down it, the water sometimes appears, and runs 
a feeble stream for a few rods, then disappears, and we travel 
over what seems a glistening dry plain. But examination 
shows the sand to be quite moist; our horses' feet turn up 
moisture, and occasional Navajo corn fields indicate some fertil- 
ity. At one place we find a large acecquia running some miles 
along the northern side, which, the guide tells me, formerly ran 
full till late in the summer, but has been totally dry for some 
years. The disintegrating sand cliffs are piling barrenness over 
what was once cultivated land. Occasionally bright meadows 
of green grass appear on the slopes, and again the river of sand 
seems to divide and flow around a fertile island a little higher 



558 A WALLED CAMP. 

than the main land, and containing a few acres of dense wheat- 
grass, as high as a man's head. Again we find the cliffs sinking 
from a perpendicular to a slope of sixty degrees or so, and 
bordered by considerable foot-hills; and there we see shrubby 
hemlock, bunch grass, a few herds and Navajo hogans. Above 
are their goats clambering up what appears the bare, yellow face 
of stone; but riding near we observe hundreds of little gullies 
worn in the rock, each with a slight stain of soil and a few 
bunches of yellow grass. Looking for camp early, we came 
upon a green island of some ten acres, containing three Navajo 
huts ; my guide shouted to the first shepherd girl he saw, who 
pointed to a peak half a mile away, exclaiming, "Klohh-tohh!^' 
We rode thither, and to ray surprise found that the cliffs gave 
back and inclosed a level plat of a few acres, a sort of mountain 
cove, sodded with luxuriant grass, and containing another 
Navajo settlement. Their goats were kind enough to prefer the 
high gulches, leaving the green grass of the plat in abundance 
for our stock. In the center M'as a dug spring, but no running 
water. The community had abundance of goats' milk and 
white roots — nothing else. 

While the Navajo prepared our supper, I went to the first 
hogan, finding an old man quite sick, who asked — the only 
Spanish he knew — if I had any azucar y cafe, adding that he 
had not tasted food for a week. His daughter went back to 
camp with me, after the sugar and coffee, and all the other 
women in the settlement having arrived, they waited to see us 
eat. Opening a tin box, to their great astonishment, I took out 
a sardine and jokingly held it out for them to see, then ate it, 
M'hen they turned away with such expressions of horror and 
disgust that I was heartily ashamed of myself. Tiieir feelings 
were probably about the same as ours would be on seeing a 
Fejee chewing on the corpse of his grandmother. Fish and 
turkeys either will be or have been human beings, in their the- 
ology ; they never touch the former, and the latter only to escape 
absolute starvation. I had been warned that I would find my 
Navajo prone to disregard cleanliness ; I found him rather neat 
and careful. But imagine my astonishment when I saw that 



INDIAN DISEASES. 559 

all his native politeness could not entirely conceal his disgust at 
eating with me ! The sardines have done the business for my 
reputation among the Navajoes. 

After supper I took an evening stroll as far as I could go up 
one of the gulches, and after lighting my pipe had sat down 
upon a rock to watch the line of sunshine and shadows slowly 
creep up the sixteen hundred feet of the opposite cliff, when I 
was startled by something like a groan. Within a rod of me, 
but so low that I had not noticed it, was a temporary hogan; 
and glancing in I saw a woman with ulcerated face, lying on 
an old blanket, and murmuring in troubled sleep. She waked, 
and, seeing me, muttered, "Hah-koh .''' which invitation being 
declined, she reached out a trembling and blotched hand, mur- 
muring, "Nah-toh, nah-toh'' (tobacco). Having given her all 
I had with me, she became quite communicative; then, seeing 
I did not fully understand, pointed to the sores on her arms 
and mournfully muttered, "CJiah-chos, chah-cJios/' a Navajo 
word indicating the venereal poison. She was in the last stages, 
and had evidently been removed to this place to die, as they 
never use a hogan in which any one has died — another singular 
resemblance to the Chinese. Their physicians treat this disease 
with the sweat-house and the application of a peculiar clayey 
stone, pounded fine, and indigenous herbs; and often, white 
men tell me, with great success. There is something horrible 
in the idea of these simple mountaineers receiving such a curse 
from the superior race. 

Sunlight gave place to moonlight as I returned to camp, — 
the bright moonlight of this climate, which poured a flood of 
glory on the barren scene east of us, transforming the sand peaks 
to shining mountains of gold, and the flat to a flowing, glitter- 
ing stream of gems. I was weary, but the sight was too glorious 
for sleep, and so I sat and gazed for hours. When I attempt 
to philosophize or geologize on mountain scenery, or speculate 
on the age of such peaks and canons, or the causes that brought 
them about, I soon drift out of science and into mystical imag- 
inings. Such scenery never will let me philosophize ; ife will 
have me muse. 



560 A POOR PROSPECT. 

We may go back, back, from one geologic age to another ; 
from cosmic process to cosmic process ; from the wearing period 
to the glacial period, and thence to the cooling period and the 
gaseous period, and come at last to a mighty void, over which 
the mind can only reach out to '' In the beginning, God — " 
There in childhood we began ; there, after weary years of 
science, must we rest. Reason, exhausted, leans on faith, 
and learning's last endeavor ends where Moses and Revelation 
began. 

June 20th. — We were off at the first glimmer of dawn, 
hoping to reach grass and water early in the afternoon, and 
knowing that at the best we had a long day's ride before us. 
It is delightful for traveling till about 10 o'clock ; then the 
morning breeze dies away, and as the afternoon breeze does not 
rise till about three, the intervening heat is terrible. We are 
already nearly two thousand feet below Defiance, and going a 
little lower every day, with corresponding change in the climate. 
The grand scenery continues to the very mouth of the canon, 
which we reached in two hours, then breaks down into a brief 
succession of foothills and ridges of loose sand, and brings us 
to an open plain. Here were two or three sections of land 
under some sort of cultivation by the Navajoes, but it was the 
most pitiable prospect for a crop I ever saw. The feeble, yel- 
low blades of corn, three or four inches in hight, had struggled 
along through drought and cold till the heavy frost of June 
17th, and now most of them lay flat on the ground. My guide 
waved his hand over the field, exclaiming, mournfully, '^ Iluerto, 
muerto" (dead); "?io chinneahgo Navajoes J^ A few of the more 
resolute were out replanting, which they did with a sharpened 
stick, or rather paddle. They dig a hole some ten inches through 
the dry surface sand to the moist layer underneath, in the 
edge of which they deposit the grain. They plant wheat the 
same way, in little hills a foot or so apart, and weed it care- 
fully till it is grown enough to spade the ground. If there is 
water they irrigate; otherwise, it has to take its chances, and the 
guide informed me that the acecquia we saw issuing from the 
caflon had been dry pasar muchos anos. Twenty bushels of 



CHALKY MOUNTAIN. 561 

corn uiul ten of wheat are extra crops. If any citizen of rural 
Ohin, who can deliberately sit down three times a day and reck- 
lessly eat all his appetite craves, is dissatisfied, he ought to travel 
awhile in this country. The stream that sinks above gives this 
tract enough of subsoil moisture to insure some growth. Cross- 
ing the dry arroyo we rose on the western side to a vast flood 
plain, ten miles wide, and running as far as I could see from 
north to south. The surface showed that it had been flooded 
some time within the last few years ; there was not a trace of 
alkali or other noxious mineral, and the soil was of great natural 
fertility. But there was not a spear of vegetation on it, simply 
for lack of moisture. Here are at least a hundred square miles, 
formed of detritus and vegetable mold, utterly worthless for 
want of water. If artesian wells are possible, the whole tract 
may be of great value. 

We rose thence by a succession of white sandhills to a horrible 
desert, which extended some twenty miles. Our horses suffered 
from botii heat and thirst, and the water in our canteens Mas 
soon simmering warm. As we neared a low range of gray and 
chalky-looking hills, the sagebrush appeared a little more thrifty, 
and sometimes showed a faint green tinge, indicating there was 
water somewhere in the vicinity. A faint track, as if made by 
sheep or goats, crossed our trail, whereat the guide whirled his 
horse toward the ridge, ran his eye along the peaks, and se- 
lecting one which to my eye in no way differed from the rest, 
exclaimed, " Toh!'^ and we started for it. At the mouth of the 
gorge was a sickly little Cottonwood in a small depression, at 
which the guide remarked : " Toh pasar muchos cinos'^ ("water 
many yeara ago"), and we struck up the nearest gulch. The rock 
everywhere was crumbling away; it was like riding up a moun- 
tain of chalk. At the foot of, and partly underneath a largo 
cliff, we found two holes, scooped out by Indian hatchets, and 
containing a gallon or so of water to each, the one almost cool 
and the other blood warm. After treating ourselves to a quart 
or so each — my horse drank the cool one and the burro the other, 
and we struck into the desert again. On the western side, my 
guide had told me, we should see the last Navajoes; but we 
36 




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,i i r 



ii,L,.i„*h 



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!ll»!lillllllllllh!IHii'll 



562 



VILE DEINK. 563 

Boon met most of the colony driving before them their little 
herds, and to the guide's question they replied that the grass 
there was gone, the water dried up to one spring, and that was 
hohkawah ki ivano (decidedly not good). Though I did not quite 
understand this, I saw, by its eifect on the guide, that it was 
bad news for us, who had already ridden forty miles. We 
found but one family left, and their brush hogan showed that 
they were on the move. The woman brought out a copper 
kettle full of water from the only spring, a mile up the gulch 
which was horribly slimy and stinking; but the guide decided 
that we must have some of it, and in an hour's climbing we 
reached it. 

All around the little pool the sandstone had been trodden to 
powder, and was blowing into the spring , the water was of a 
sickening green, full of weeds and ugly creatures, and looked 
and smelt as if ten thousand goats had waded through it. 
Nevertheless, a catholic stomach triumphed over a protesting 
nose, and I drowned half a pint of it like so much necessary 
physic, while my horse drank freely. My Navajo pointed 
sadly to a few tufts of grass, which had been chewed to the 
ground, and even the roots pulled up by the goats, and inti- 
mated, by gestures, that we must go till long after sundown to 
find good grass. We were not an hour on our way when both 
of us felt symptoms of the water "coming back upon us," and 
I soon rolled out of my saddle on to the sand, too sick to sit up. 
The fluid part of the water had been absorbed, and the solid 
contents were putting my stomach to its trumps. The guide 
hastily rigged a blanket on the largest sage brush, furnishing 
me a little shade ; then placed another under my head, gazed 
awhile at my contortions, and decided, as shown by signs, that 
" it must come up." He ran to a gully a few rods away and 
brought back a few dry, yellow flowers, which he lighted wit!i 
a wisp of sage brush, and held under my nose, resulting in a 
violent sneezing and discharge of blood. He then got my pipe, 
filled, lighted and placed it in my mouth ; the taste was horri- 
ble at such a time, but he insisted that it was wano. As this 
did not seem to produce the desired effect, he moistened a lot of 



564 



AN INDIAN EMETIC. 



tul)ac;co in his mouth and rubbed it on the pit of my stomach 
and under my arms. In a few minutes I began to heave, and 
shortly was relieved of everything in my stomach, and was 
soon pretty well. But my sickness was succeeded by a iiorrible 
thirst, which I had to endure lor fifteen miles further. Then 
we turned oti'the trail to another peak of rather hard sandstone. 
Up which we toiled for nearly a thousand feet. Here he i)ointed 

out a black pass between 
two rocks, and leaving 
our horses we entered it 
to find a beautiful pool 
of cold, clear water, 
nearly a rod square and 
coin])letely covered by 
overhanging rocks. Here 
we drank and rested un- 
til the moon was high 
enough to light us back 
to the plain. My horse 
either smelt the water or 
heard its splash, and 
uttered a low pleading 
whinny that went to my 
heart. It was impossi- 
ble to get him under the 
rocky arch into the cave, 
and I had no vcss^el but 
a tin cup. I tried that, 
but could not even moist- 
en his tongue; I wet my handkerchief and tried to "swab" his 
i^iouth ; he chewed it to rags and bit my finger in the opera- 
tio!i. About to give up in despair, I thought of my wool hat, 
and filled that for him. It fitted his mouth admirably, and 
by eleven trips with it he was satisfied. Half a dozen hatfuls 
sufficed for the burro, and we worked our way down hill again. 
But this time my Navajo's sense of locality fiiiled him, and on 
the steepest part he took the wrong chute, pulling up his burro 




"vah! melicano, malo, malo!" 



SLEEPING IN THE SADDLE. 565 

just in time to avoid his plunging head first into a ravine, but 
not in time to save himself, as tiie saddle girth gave way just 
at the wrung moment. As he went head first into a pile of 
boulders and sand, I looked on in horror, fully satisfied that I 
was left alone in this terrible place; but he sprang up instantly, 
and with a silly smile, and, '' Vah, vah, BFelicano, malo, malo!" 
remounted and rode on, only rubbing his crown occasionally. 

Getting back to the plain, we continued our former course 
sout invest along the foot of the mesa. My eyelids began to 
liroop with weariness, and for fear I should drop off my horse 
in sleep, I loosed my feet, and raising the stirrup leathers, 
wrapped them about each arm. The position was not favoi'able 
to sleep, nor could I keep entirely awake; and soon I suffered 
from that dangerous symptom of dreaming with the eyes wide 
open, and fixed upon the very object of my dream. The bright 
moonlight fell upon the projecting peaks of the ridge to our 
right, and I endeavored to keep awake by contemplating their 
beauty ; but as I gazed I saw suddenly a score of bright, clear 
streams dashing down as many gulches, and a broad savanna 
on the plain below, rich and green with inviting grass. I 
shouted to the guide: "Kloh! Toh!'' (''grass, water"), and 
jerking up my horse, pitched forward on his neck and awoke. 
I braced myself more firmly to keep awake, and in a few mo- 
ments, looking on a rock a little ahead, I saw a hideous painted 
Indian bound out from behind it and take position in the sage 
brush near the trail. I yelled to the guide and grabbed my 
gun, and just as the hammer was clicking under my hand, 
Indian and rock disappeared, and the answering shout of the 
guide brought me to my waking senses, I knew there was not 
a hostile Indian in fifty miles, so for fear I siiould shoot my 
own horse, I gave the gun to the Navajo, and again resolved to 
keep awake. He still pointed ahead for grass, but indicated 
that it was now ^'pokceto^^ ("a little way"). While gazing on 
a sand ridge we were crossing, I seemed to see it covered witli 
grass and flowers, and shouting that this was the place, reined 
up my horse suddenly, and again butted him in the back of the 
head, at the imminent risk of giving us both the poll-evil. 



566 "HAH-KOH, MELICANO !" 

At last, about 11 o'clock, we reached the promised place I 
had anticipated in so many fitful dreams — a little valley, rich 
with bunch and herd grass, where we made a "dry camp." 
Taking the estimated distance from De Chelley, and deducting 
the remaining distance to Moqui, we had ridden at least sixty- 
five miles, probably much more, and this under a burning sun, 
without a bite to eat, and with water only three times. We 
stood it amazingly, but it is a wonder it did not kill the ani- 
mals. I think the little burro, not much bigger than a sheep, 
and carrying a good-sized Navajo and twenty pounds of pro- 
visions, stood it better than ray horse. As soon as I could 
unload and hopple my horse, without removing any clothing, 
I wrapped both blankets about me, sunk upon the grass, with 
head on saddle, and in two minutes was sound asleep. 

June 21st. — I scarcely seemed to have closed my eyes when 
I was aroused by a "Hah-koh, 3Ielicano," and starting up, saw 
ray Navajo with the animals ready to mount, and pointing to 
the east, already rosy with the coming dawn. Moving his hand 
toward a point half way to the zenith, he remarked : "Kloh, 
toh — no cedar," Spanish, Navajo, and sign-language, meaning in 
full, " By starting now, we shall reach grass and water the 
middle of the forenoon, and before the heat of the day." 

It is astonishing how much conversation two men can carry 
on with only a hundred words in common, if both are good at 
gesture. Thus, on starting out in the morning, I point to the 
zenith and ask: "Kloh, toh f to M'hich my Navajo replies: 
"Oil ay," pointing to the animals with a rapid gyration of his 
fingers. This means in full: "Shall we reach grass and water 
by noon ?" " Yes, if the animals travel well." True, this does 
not admit of going into the higher realms of literature or phi- 
losophy, but men lose much of their interest in those higher 
realms while crossing these deserts. Grass and water are the 
most sublime objects of their search ; and the country is so 
generally barren that all journeys have to be measured and 
calculated with regard to the few places where these are to be 
found. The knowledge of the Indians on this subject seems 
almost like a sixth sense. Standing on the plain, my Navajo 



MORNING RIDE. 



567 




"the shadow of a great rock IK A WEARY LAND." 



will fix his eye on the distant peaks, of which every one looks 
alike to me, and selecting one, exclaim, "Toh!" start for it, and 
come unerringly to water. In one instance we followed on his 
selected course, and found the spring dry, when his confusion 
was as great as mine would be if I should get lost in my native 
town. 

We had enough water in the canteen to make two cups of 
coffee, after which we found the morning ride delightful, and 
through a much better country, containing considerable grass. 
The vnlley soon narrowed to a mere pass, then opened suddenly 
to an extensive plain, in the center of which, some ten miles 
away, rose a vast oval mesa, which the guide pointed out as 
Moqui. We stopped at the point of the mountain, opening on 



568 DISTANT VIEW OF MOQUI. 

the plain ; but when the guide indicated grass and water up and 
over a perfectly bare white sand hill, I shook my head. He 
only smiled, and led the way. With frequent rests to our 
horses, we had toiled up and over the rising sand hills for 
something like a mile, when a sudden descent brought us into 
a circular hollow, containing half a dozen shrubs and nearly an 
acre of densely matted grass. At the foot of the cliff was a 
slight moisture, and pointing to a black rock wliich a])peared 
nearly five hundred feet straight above us, the guide intimated 
there was our s})ring. Everything was stripped from the ani- 
mals except the lariats, but how we ever got them up that hill 
is a mystery to me; but we did, and found plenty of good 
water, brought down our supply, and remained in this camp 
until 3 p. :\f. 

I am now convinced that my horse could go up or down any 
pair of stairs in Cincinnati. We had exhausted what bread we 
started with, and cooked a fresh supply here; after which we 
enjoyed a delightful "laze" of four hours in the shadow of the 
rock. 

From this point, when the afternoon breeze had sprung up, 
we entered upon the sandy plain, and followed a slight trail 
towards the mesa. Occasional depressions were filled with 
yellow bunch grass, but most of the plain was of hard bare 
white sand, seeming to literally bake in the heat of the sun. 
Approaching the foot of the mesa we found the sand a little 
more loose and dark. Plere I noticed rows of stones a foot or 
so apart, and was amazed to find, on examination, we were in a 
Moqui field. By every little hill of corn or beans they had 
laid a stoiie, about half the size of a peck measure; for what I 
cannot imagine, unless it is to draw moisture. 

From Ihe foothills I gazed with astonishment upon the j)er- 
pendicular walls and projecting cliffs of the mesa, rising a 
thousand feet above me. It is little over half a mile long and 
half as wide, and rises abruptly from the plain on every side; 
around it run half galleries and footpaths, winding in and out 
upon ti)e crevices and projecting shelves of rock ; and far above 
my head, as it seemed almost in mid-air, I saw goat-pens upon 



STRANGE EMOTIONS. 



569 




^Ay . 



r< 





SHEEP-PENS AT MOQUI. 

the very flice of tlie cliif, and o])eiiing back into dark, cool 
caves, where the stock is inclosed at night. Here and there 
was to be seen a Moqui woman, toiling wearily up the rocky 
galleries with a water-jug strapped on her back ; and above, on 
the summit, I saw the houses, at an angle of forty-five above me, 
looking like pigeon-houses set on a cliff. 

The sight was one to awaken strange emotions. I was look- 
ing upon the chosen stronghold of the most peculiar and unac- 
countable of all American Indians; probably upon an ancient 
seat of the Aztecs; upon a city about which all has been con- 
jecture and romance, founded upon the vague reports of 
prospectors and hunters, but which no writer had visited and 
described ; a town the very existence of which is often considered 
fabulous. As a natural fortification it is probably the strongest 



570 AT THE FOOT OF THE MESA. 

in the land. Around the entire mesa there is but one narrow 
way that a horse can ascend, and on that, at a score of points, a 
squad of boys with nothing but stones could defy the cavalry of 
the world. The springs which supply the community are situ- 
ated around the base of the highest cliffs, where the foothills 
begin, but so far up that most of them can not be reached by 
horses from below; and even most of their little fields are 
hidden among the foothills, and only to be found from above. 
From the general level of the plain to the flat top of the viesa I 
estimate at a thousand feet. Half of this rise is by a succession 
of rolling sand ridges, and then we come to a perpendicular 
cliff, only surmountable by these rock-hewn galleries. The 
community owns neither horses nor cattle; nothing but goats, 
and equally agile burros, can surmount the obstacles of such a 
situation. It is at once the strongest, most astonishing and un- 
accountable site for a town I ever saw. 

We entered upon the ascent in a hot and narrow pass between 
two sand ridges, and soon reached the first spring, below which 
was a succession of walled fields. Each field was about three 
rods wide and six long^ and contained some three hundred hills 
of corn; they were built up against the sand ridge, a stone wall 
four or five feet high forming at once the division for one and 
support for the dirt in the next, the fields rising in a succession 
of terraces. The feeble stream was exhausted before it passed 
the second field, and it is only in the night that the lower ones 
can be irrigated. Farther down, where there is no water, the 
Moqui digs a hole in the sand eighteen or twenty inches deep, 
and plants his corn where a slight moisture has percolated from 
above. We passed the slope, and M'ere about to enter on the 
gallery road, when a Moqui shouted to us from directly over- 
head, and in obedience to his directions, though at the imminent 
risk of our necks, the guide turned down a rocky footpath to 
another gallery. A few steps showed us that a vast sand-rock 
had fallen across the other road, and a new one had been built. 

As we turned the last groove in the gallery, and, almost before 
we were aware of" it, the houses looking so much like stone, 
we were right in the first town, all the men of which seemed 



MISIAMTEWAH. 571 

to be absent. At Defiance I was told to ask for Chi no, the 
Cnpitan of this mesa, before I talked to any one else; so I 
shouted to call out some one. A woman came on top of the 
nearest house, and seeing me immediately set up a cry ot'jokow! 
jokow! Then from every house women and children, with 
occasionally a man or good-sized boy, came running on to the 
house-tops and down the ladders to the street, while the cry 
went ahead from house to house, jokow ! jokow ! jokoio ! A 
population of several hundred was soon crowding about uie, or 
gazing in astonishment from the house-tops ; the women were 
chattering and exclaiming, and the children when I rode near 
a house yelling with fright, and altogether we were creating a 
decided sensation. Again I called for Chino, and a dozen boys 
jumped into the road and ran along the cliff, beckoning me to 
follow. We passed through the first town, the whole popula- 
tion following in a tumultuous mass, and in the scond town — a 
hundred yards on — found and were admitted to the lower part 
of Chino's house. He was not at home, but they let us into an 
extension of his dwelling, containing but one story, where we 
deposited our packs. Twenty boys and women were already 
on the house-top, jostling each other to look through the 
square opening at us; as many more were crowding into the 
room, and about four hundred were outside struggling for a 
good place. 

It is not pleasant to be stared at, even by barbarians ; my 
Navajo also got embarrassed, and suggested that Chino could not 
be far away, and a few shots from my gun would bring him. 
I stepped to the edge of the cliff and fired three shots as fast 
as I could run the slide of my " Spencer," which elicited uni- 
versal cries of jokoio ! Then an old woman suggested some- 
thing that sounded like Mice-eye, and a boy was sent after that 
person. He arrived in a few minutes and asked at once, in 
pretty good Spanish, who I was, what I wanted, where I came 
from, where was I going, and what did I intend to do when I 
got there ? His name he told me, and had it written on a card 
by some white man, was Misiamtewah. He had seen the Mor- 
nioneys, and could talk Moqui, Tegua and Spanish, and a few 







572 



EL CAPITAX CIIINO. 573 

words of English. What could I talk, and what did I want 
at Moqui? I made friends with him at the start. 

Chino soon arrived and assigned us a large and commodious 
room, a sort of addition to his house. Here were the cooking 
utensils, and a few books left by Mr. T. C. Crothers, son of the 
Pueblo Agent at Santa Fe, who had visited Moqui the previous 
year and remained several weeks. With them were a number 
of star candles, some writing paper, a clay pipe, and old news- 
papers, all of which Chino had religiously preserved, and now 
delivered them to me. Per Misiamtewah, Chino assured me 
this was my room, my town, my country while I stayed ; and 
John soon piled all our property inside, and sent the animals 
out to Chino's herd. I suggested that he had better keep a 
sharp lookout for our little luxuries ; but he answered, with a 
meaning smile, in halting Spanish and Navajo, with gestures 
most expressive of hookinq, what might be fully translated thus: 
" Oh, no, Senor, among Mexican and Melican you watch ; Na- 
vajo you watch, when you have no good one with you; but here 
you never watch at all ; Moquis steal nothing." It proved 
literally true. Not one of Chino's family would touch an ar- 
ticle without niv invitation ; and it is the testimonv of all, that 
among these people the women are chaste and the men scrupu- 
lously honest. 

By the third day of our stay John is in a fever of anxiety 
to go home. He ought to be satisfied to await my pleasure, 
for he is enjoying three meals a day at my expense ; but the 
impecunious cuss knows there is five dollars waiting for him 
there, when he brings letters from me, and he wants to get there 
and have a time with the boys. Luckily, he cannot buy whisky, 
but he will have his spree all the same; and his extravagance 
will break out in reckless displays of new paint and flowered 
calico, and lavish gifts of white sugar. I hate to part with him, 
for he has proved a good fellow. Like most common Indians, 
the poor fellow has no name, or I should immortalize him. 




CHAPTEE XXVII. 

THE LAST OF THE AZTECS. 

Theory and fact — What I know about the Moquis— Location — Numbers — 
Dwellings — Dress — A dinner of State — Dog-meat, and a Catholic stomach — 
Strange dialogue on religion — Tuba and Telashnimki — Oraybe lladicals — Fur- 
ther enquiries — Division of the sulyects — ^lounds in Ohio — In Mississippi 
Valley — Jlexico — Central America — Peru — Theories — Jews, Chinese, Malays, 
rhcenicians, Romans, or Atlanteans — Modest conclusion. 

HO are the Moquis? This historical conundrum must 
be referred to tiie class of inquiries relative to the 
" Mound-Builders/' and other prehistoric races of 
America; for it is, to my mind, self-evident that the 
civilized Indians of Arizona are but the last feeble 
remnants of a long series of races. Theory is worthless with- 
out a good basis of fact. Let me, therefore, recount what I 
saw before I attempt antiquarian researches. 

The three Moqui towns, on the one mesa, where I spent four 
days, are situated as nearly as I can determine in latitude 36° 
north, and between the meridians 110° and 111° west of 
Greenwich ; in the center of an oval plain, some twenty by 
thirty miles in extent. It appears to be walled in by precipi- 
tous mountains, with five or six openings ; but this is only in 
appearance, as a succession of ridged mesas, scattered over the 
country, appear to the traveler at any one point as forming a 
circle. Around the border, where it rises toward the enclosing 
hills, the plain is rich in bunch and white-seed grass ; whence 
toward the towns it falls off to a horribly barren plain of dry 
and burning sand. From this plain the mesa rises, oval-shaped 
and equally on every side, to the hight of one thousand or 
twelve hundred feet. At first view I set it down as much 
higher, but having since been around it, and climbed down and 
.574 



A NATURAL FORTRESS. 



575 




NORTHWEST FRONT OF MOQUI. 

up, I reduce it somewhat. This rocky mole, of mingled white 
and red sandstone, with a lower stratum of soapstone, is nearly 
half a mile long, (I measured it by stepping), and not quite a 
quarter wide. From the edge the cliff falls off perpendicularly, 
or even with a slight overhang, some half way down ; then the 
foothills begin and slope away in a succession of sandy inclines. 
At one place only, by rock-hewn galleries and dug and walled 
ways, can horses reach the summit. In two other places per- 
sons can descend or ascend by toilsome climbing. Uj) one of 
these, leading to the main sjiring, I toiled for an hour. The 
Moqui women ascend it in fifteen minutes, with heavy water 
jugs slung on their heads, springing from shelf to shelf of the 
rock with amazing agility. 



576 SEVEN TOWNS. 

The three or four springs which supply the place break out 
from under the rock about the point where the abrupt elitf joins 
the foot-hills, and can all be fortified against the approach of an 
enemy from below. All the provision is stored as fast as 
gathered, in the houses, and thus they seem always ready to 
sustain a long siege. As far as possible up the cliffs, where 
caves open inward, flats have been worked upon the rock, and 
sheep and goat pens constructed leading into the caves. As I 
stand upon the cliif soon after sunrise I can look down hun- 
dreds of feet into the outer portion of these pens, and see the 
Moquis milking their goats in what seems like a great rocky 
balcony standing out from the wall. All around extends the 
yellow plain, and as I walk upon these hights in the bright 
starlight, it seems tossing and heaving below me like a sea of 
molten brass. 

Moqui, a common name given by •whites and the other 
Indians, is only the name of one town ; but there are seven in 
all : Moqui, Moquina, Tegua, Ilualpee, Shepalawa, Oraybe, 
and Beowawe — so spelled by the Spaniards, but ])ronouneed by 
themselves, respectively, Molcee, IloJceenah, Tayivah, WallpaJce, 
Shapulawah, Orybay, and Baowalnouy. The first three on this 
mesa contain altogether, I conclude, about a thousand inhabit- 
ants. Their houses are generally square, and of first i-ate 
architectural design. They are built of flat stones laid in a 
fine cement, which seems to harden with time; the joists are of 
immense timbers, apparently a species of sugar pine, hewn 
round; they are plastered heavily inside, and whitewashed with 
a material which gives a hard, smooth polish. Thus they are 
easily kept clean, and always have a neat, inviting appearance; 
indeed, there is very little dust or dirt flying about on the 
mesa. Sand storms raised below, strike against the cliff some 
distance down. 

Houses are built together in groups, with but narrow pas- 
sages between, and thus neitiier town covers more than four or 
five acres. They are two or three stories in hight, the stories 
each very high except the lowest. That is seldom used in 
Bummer, and not being more than four or five feet high, I at 



SOLID CONSTRUCTION. 



577 




DISTANT VIEW OF ORAYBE. 



first thought it only a raised platform on which the main house 
stood, until they showed me the square holes opening into it, 
and the interior arranged for living. On this, the second story, 
two or three feet narrower all around, rises ten or twelve feet. 
Upon the joists of this are piled willows, or other long branches 
two or three feet deep, covered with dirt, which is again over- 
laid with hard plastering, smoothed and polished, making at 
once roof for the second, and floor for the third stories. This 
is never more than half or a third as large as the second, and 
(which struck me with astonishment, as did the same fact at 
the Laguna Pueblo), the upper walls are often built directly 
across the lower, and supported entirely by the immense joists. 
They sleep on these roofs altogether, ascending by ladders, or 
37 » 



578 A FRIENDLY RACE. 

by tlie projection of stone always built out at one of the corners 
so as to form a rude staircase. The better class carpet their 
houses with sheep-skins, and all have sheep-skins to sit on, 
though the floor is kept scrupulously clean. There is not 
dampness enough to produce troublesome mold, even in the 
lowest story, and only one noisome insect, (genus unknown to 
me,) the presence of which is at once betrayed by the white- 
wash, so it is easily guarded against. 

I had supposed they were a rather reserved people, but I 
found them exceedingly kind and communicative. When the 
novelty of my appearance had worn away a little, and I could 
walk about town without a wondering crowd after me, I rarely 
turned toward a house without receiving the welcome wave of 
the hand to the lips and breast, with the words, ^^ Ho, Melwano, 
messay vo;" or sometimes, as many know a few words of 
Spanish, " Entre: Pasar adelaiite." Then a boy or girl would 
run down the stone staircase, and extend a hand to steady me 
in ascending. They took mo into every room in their houses, 
and seemed to take a pride in exhibiting their best specimens 
of pottery, wicker-jugs, and other property. Of their children 
they were particularly demonstrative; and, indeed, they looked 
well enough. I did not, in all the towns, see a single birth- 
mark, blotch or deformity, except albinism. Children of both 
sexes go entirely naked till about the age of ten years. I noted 
one curious fact : The small children seemed almost as white as 
American children, till the age of six months or a year; then 
they began to turn darker, and at ten or twelve had attained 
to a rich mahogany color. They play for hours along . these 
cliffs, chasing each other from rock to rock at that dizzy hight, 
and yet they seemed surprised when I asked if accidents did 
not happen. 

Their mode of living is very simple, and I happened upon a 
time of unusual scarcity. The general drought of the past 
three years had cut off their crops. As often as Chino, the 
Capitan of this mesa, visited me, I had presented him a tin of 
warm, sweetened coffee, of which they are very fond, and 
which was the only thing I could spare; and I had partaken 



HIGH LIVING. 579 

of parched corn with him the evening of my arrival, when I 
received a special invitation to dine with him " the day before 
I left." (People with weak stomachs may skip the next para- 
graph.) 

They breakfast early, and dine between 11 and 12. Be- 
sides INIisiamtewah, a sort of official interpreter, there is 
another Moqui who speaks Spanish tolerably well, having 
been a year in Tucson and Prescott; and both were at dinner 
with us. We sat upon sheep-skins on the floor, in a circle 
around the earthern bowls, in which the food was placed. The 
staple was a thick corn mush, which to me was rather tasteless 
for the Avant of salt. The regular bread of the Moquis is a 
decided curiosity. The wheat is ground with metats (smooth 
stones), as' by the Navajoes, but much finer, six or seven women 
grinding together, reducing the flour to the merest dust. It is 
then mixed as thin as milk; the woman cooking dashes a 
handful on the hot stone, where it cooks almost instantly, and 
comes off no thicker than paper, and of a bright blue color. 
The flakes are about two feet long, and as they are stacked two 
or three feet deep on the platter, look remarkably like a pile 
of blue silk. They raise white, blue and red corn ; and by 
various mixtures of the meal with wheaten flour, produce seven 
different colors in the bread. These they stack in alternate 
layers for a feast, producing a pretty effect. It is very sweet 
and nourishing, but there are two objections to it : one can eat 
an hour or two before getting satisfied, and then, in some cases, 
they mix it with chamber-lye, which makes it all a little suspi- 
cious. Clean as their houses are, they are as dirty in their 
cooking as the wild Indians, and will not compare at all with 
the Navajoes. Their goats' milk, as I purchased it, was always 
so suspicious, that in this case I took my private tin cup along, 
and strained my ow^n share through a handkerchief I reserved 
for that purpose. It was rather an awkward thing for an 
invited guest to do, but I did not perceive that it gave any 
offence. But the pi^ce de resistance w^as the meat, which con- 
sisted of the hinder half of a very fat young dog, elegantly 
dressed and well cooked, that animal being the favorite food 



580 



STEWED DOG. 




GROUP OF MOQIJIS. 

of the Moquls. It is subject to greater extremes than beef 
the meat of an old, lean dog is very tougli, and that of a fat 
young puppy, very tender. I took from my own store a box 
of sardines, and Misiamtewah was prevailed upon to eat one 
but Cliino' and the rest rejected them with horror, Tiiere's 
gastronomic prejudice for you. This man is sweet on dog, 
and rejects a sardine with abhorrence; my Eastern friends 
take sardines with avidity, but their gorge rises at the thought 
of dog, while my catholic stomach takes dog and sardine with 
equal impartiality. Parched corn completed the bill of fare, 
with beverage of goat's milk. Both the Moquis and Navajoes 
never use it until heated almost to the boiling point; but after 
one cup of this, I requested and was served with mine cold. 
The stove, ingeniously constructed of flat stones, is either on the 
ground just beside the door, or on tlie roof of the first story, by 
the door of Uie second. 



jiu ^ 



{y\^iJ^. 



MODE OF FARMING. 581 

With my Navajo guide and Chino's son, we formed a very 
pleasant party of six, and had quite a social time. The second 
interpreter informed me that he went to Prcscott some years 
ago with Melicanoes and Meshicauoes, and that they named 
him — it was probably in sport — Jesus Papa (Hay-soos Pahpah). 
He was much more communicative than Misiamtewah, and 
liad a very fair idea of the Americans. To these simple people 
I represented in person all the dignity of that great Nation, of 
Avhom such wonderful reports had reached them. And here I 
must own to a little deceit. They Averc at first very inquisitive 
as to my business, and could not imagine why a white man 
should be making such a long trip witii only Indians for com- 
panions. Savage people can rarely understand that intelligent 
curiosity which is the product of civilization, and suspect some 
ulterior purpose when one has nothing to trade, and wishes to 
buy nothing. Repeatedly questioned at first, I told Ciiiiio I 
was un escribano del Gobierno de los Indios ("a writer for the 
Government in regard to the Indians "), which may be passed 
as partly true in a sense. 

The Moquis have a close struggle for existence. The sand 
surrounding the mesa presents the poorest show for farming I 
ever saw, yet everywhere among these sand hills are their little 
walled fields, three or four rods square, and from the measure 
Papa showed me, I estimated that his field had produced what 
would amount to twelve or fifteen bushels of corn, and half as 
much wheat to the acre. The water from neither of the springs 
runs more than ten rods before sinking in the sand ; but in 
some places they have constructed little troughs of rock or 
wood which carry a stream perhaps as big as one's finger to the 
field and help the case a little. With a sharp stick they dig u 
hole about eighteen inches deep through the top sand, which 
brings them to a stratum of moister sand, in which they lodge 
the grain. Around the hill they then place a few stones, and 
after dressing in clean clothes, sit in solemn silence for hours by 
the fields — supposed to be praying for rain. If no rain comes, 
which is generally the case, they usually carry water in their 
wicker jugs from the spring, and pour a pint or so on each hill. 



582 HISTORY AND TRADITION. 

I suppose the stones are put there to draw or retain moisture ; 
but it may be merely to mark the exact spot. A month often 
elapses before the stalk appears above ground. It rarely grows 
more than two feet high, and the ear is short and thick, with 
dark, round, very hard grains, much like that variety we used 
to call " squaw corn " on the Wabash. Along the foot of these 
bordering sand-hills, in the shallow where there seems to be 
some moisture, and in the bordering mountains, grow many 
peach trees, which bear abundantly every year. The kernels 
of the stones are pounded and formed into little cakes, used 
apparently as a sort of relish. With all this the difficulty of 
living is very great, and the industry and enterprise displayed 
quite astonishing. Their sheep and goats are always sure of 
good pasture somewhere in the neighborhood, and these furnish 
their dependence when all else fails. 

Of history or tradition they seem to have little or none, and 
all my endeavors failed to discover the slightest trace of any 
religion. The simplest form in M'hich I could put questions 
on that point seemed to completely bewilder them. The Span- 
ish word Dios they had never heard, and the American word 
God only as an oath, and did not know what it implied. To 
my question, "Who made all these mountains?" Papa only 
smiled, then stared, and finally replied : " Nada ; siempre son 
aqui." (" Nothing ; they are always here.") Fearing from 
this that my limited command of Spanish had caused him to 
misunderstand me, I entered into a very minute explanation, in 
the simplest possible words, of our belief, and had him repeat 
till I was sure he fully understood it, but apparently it roused 
no answering conceptions in his mind. Part of the talk struck 
me as so curious that I at once copied it : 

Myself — The Melicans and Mexicans have one they call God, 
or Dios. We think He made us, made this mesa, made these 
mountains, made all men and all things. We talk to and ask 
good things of this God. 

Papa — Yes; I much hear Melican man say "G — d '^ 

(repeating an oath too blasphemous to be written). 

Myself — No, no ; that is bad. He was a bad ]\[elican who 



RELIGION. 



583 




STREET IN THE "DEAD TOWN." 



said that. We think this God all good. Have the Moquis 
a God like that? 

P. — Nothing ! (Nada.) The grandfathers said nothing of J)/os 
— what you say Got — God (making several attempts at the word). 

M. — But, say to me, who made this 7nesa, these mountains, 
all that you see there ? 

P. — Nothing ! It is here. 

M. — Was it always here ? 

P. — (With a short laugh) — Yes, certainly, always here. 
What would make it be away from here ? 

M. — But where do the dead Moquis go ? Where is the 
child I saw put in the sand yesterday ? Where does it go? 

P. — Not at all. Nowhere ; you saw it put in the sand. How 
can it go anywhere ? 



684 



STRANGE CUSTOMS. 



M. — Did you ever hear of Montezuma ? 
P. — No ; Monte — Montzoo — (attempting the word) — Meli- 
cano man ? 

M. — No ; one of your people, we think. What are these 
dances for that you have sometimes ? 
P. — The grandfathers always had them. 

So ended my attempts to inquire into Moqui theology. Papa 
may only have been pretending ignorance; if so, he did it well. 

This is so different 
from all I had heard 
of the Moquis that 
it puzzled me. Mr. 
Clark, Spanish in- 
terpreter for the Pue- 
blos, spent 6 months 
here, and he wit- 
nessed many religi- 
ous ceremonies ; and 
Major Powell, if I 
mistake not, ob- 
tained from them a 
tolerably connected 
account of their ideas 
of God, and the im- 
mortality of thesoui. 
Either of two con- 
clusions is possible : 
That there is a diffe- 
rence of opinion 
among them, or that 
they felt too much suspicion of a comparative stranger to tell 
me anything about the matter. 

But they have another custom, in which, if it have not a reli- 
gious significance, I fail to see any meaning. About bedtime 
Chino goes to the top of his house and utters a loud call or 
chant for about five minutes, after which the whole population 
are very still. At the first break of day a man runs the whole 




TUBA AND TELASIINIMKI. 



A DELIVERER LOOKED FOR. 585 

length of the mesa with a number of cow-bells attached to his 
belt ; the entire population turn out at once, and while the others 
proceed to milk their goats, the bellman and a few young men 
descend to the plain and go a mile or more towards the East. 
An army officer who has visited them, says that they look for a 
deliverer to come from that direction ; and send an embassy 
every morning to meet him ! 

How wide-spread, how deeply rooted is this Messianic idea. 
From the Jew who looked for one that should restore Israel 
and break the Roman yoke, to the poor Hindoo who fondly 
trusts that the Tenth Avatar will descend, 

"And Camdeo bright, and Ganessa sublime, 
Shall bless with joy theii* own proj^itious clime ; " 

from the cultivated white Christian to the poor brown Moqui 
— all, all are looking for One who shall speak with authority, 
bring universal peace, and restore to each his own. Is it a 
myth? Did God send hunger, and not send bread? Did He 
implant a universal hope and longing, for which He was to pro- 
vide no realization. This world-wide hope means something. 
One has come, or is to come, who will usher in a time 

" When useless lances into scythes shall bend, 
And the broad falchion in a plow-share end ; 
When wars shall cease, and ancient fraud shall fail ; 
Returning Justice lift aloft her scale ; 
Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend, 
And white-robed Innocence from heaven descend." 

Of their own arrival in the region they now occupy, the Moquis 
have no tradition ; but have a well connected account of the 
Navajoes, who came, "the grandfathers say," not many genera- 
tions ago, from a northern country. They have also a vague 
account that they were once more rich and numerous than now. 
" The grandfathers " often told them that the ruins on the 
adjacent mesa were inhabited by a powerful race of Moquis, and 
a big spring watered the plain ; but an earthquake threw down 
many of the houses, and dried up the spring ; many of the 



686 ORAYBE. 

people perished of famine, and the remnant went to a south 
country. They have nuich more acquaintance with white men 
than I had supposed. Several Mormons, particularly Jacob 
Hamlin, the Indian Agent, have visited them and remained 
some time. 

Telashnimki and Tuba, two Oraybes, husband and wife, 
accompanied Hamlin to Salt Lake City, and were delighted with 
all they saw. Since their return, a portion of the Oraybes 
have seceded fi'om the main body, and established a new settle- 
ment, to which they invite white men, and propose more friendly 
relations. The IMoquis pointed out Oraybe in the distance ; 
but did not think it safe for me to visit it, as the Apaches visit 
there constantly. The Mormons are establishing friendly rela- 
tions with all the tribes of northwestern Arizona, and will, it is 
to he hoped, succeed in peace in their vicinity. One question 
frequently asked me was, "Are the Mormoneys Americans?" 
A plain affirmative was near enough to the truth for the views 
of the Indians; but, in point of fact, the question is open to 
argument. 

Two years before, an American was wounded in the neigh- 
borhood, and remained atMoqui nearly a year; and the previous 
winter Mr. O. C. Crothers, son of the Pueblo agent, at Santa Fe, 
had remained there three or four months. They now receive regu- 
lar annuities of Government goods. Some ten or twenty miles 
west is another mesa, with three villages, and fifteen miles from 
that the Oraybe village; thus their total number must be about 
three thousand. The Orbayes refuse to receive an agent or 
make any treaty, and repulse the advances of whites, but have 
committed no violence. They trade and fraternize extensively 
with the Apaches. 

The dress of a Moqui consists of very loose jacket and draw- 
ers, made of calico obtained from traders. The first is made 
close at the neck, and flows loosely to the hips ; the second 
reaches from the waist to a little below the knees. Heavy san- 
dals protect the feet. But this dress is only conventional, and 
they often appear entirely naked, except the girdle and breech- 
clout. The women wear a heavy woolen of their own manu- 



INDIAN POLYGAMY. 587 

facture, consisting of single skirt and a sort of half-waist, or 
rather a fold thrown over the shoulders, and leaving one arm 
and breast bare. Their disposition is eminently civil and un- 
warlike. Tliey have a great horror of shedding blood, and 
always retreated before any attack. The oldest men have no 
recollection of any time when they were at war, and I saw no 
weapons of war among them. 

Polygamy seems to prevail to a slight extent. Chino and 
Misiamtewah each have two Mives, but from what little they 
said on the subject, I conclude tLey consider it a burden rather 
than a i)rivilege. The women are rather homely, short, and 
stumpy, I think from carrying loads upon their head. None 
of them will compare with the graceful and shapely Navajo 
girls; nor are they prolific. Their numbers are evidently 
decreasing steadily. The town at the south end of the mesa is 
slowly falling to ruins; not half the houses are inhabited, and 
through the other towns there are many abandoned dwellings, 
now used for stables and sheep pens, or for storing hay. The 
kindly law of nature will not permit increase in a country which 
can only furnish a bare living. Moqui means " Dead Man," 
and Moquina may be translated " Little Dead Town." This 
is the half-abandoned town on the south end of the mesa; and 
I was informed by Jacob Hamlin that some five years before 
most of the inhabitants there died of small-pox. 

Most singular of all, two languages are spoken on this mesa. 
The Tegua town, the one we first enter on coming up the cliif, 
has a language quite distinct from the ordinary Moqui. Those 
who have examined say the Tegua is the same as that spoken 
by the Pueblos near the city of Mexico. If true, this is a most 
important fact, and to my mind goes far to supply the missing 
link in Baron Humboldt's history of the Aztecs. Governor 
Arny, of Santa Fe, collected many facts on this subject, but 
whether they have been published I do not know. 

But the most gratifying part of my experience here was a 
sight of some of the renowned " white Indians," though the 
result was rather ludicrous than otherwise. I had learned all 
that Papa and Misiamtewah could tell me on the subject, when 



588 "white INDIANS." 

the former came to my room one clay and stated tliat a family 
of them, three men and two women, had just come on a visit 
from the . next mesa. I was transported with delight. I now 
had an opportunity to bodily examine a people who might almost 
be styled fabulous. For half a century we have had enchanting 
stories of this people, seeming all the more romantic from the 
fact that they had to be rei)eated through a dozen channels be- 
fore they reached the philosophic critic. It was said that a 
\yelsh family had settled in the tribe two centuries ago — as to 
just how they got there the tradition was silent — and that tlieir 
descendants had multiplied to an extensive class, with white 
skin, blue eyes, and red hair. Another story was that they were 
captured Spaniards, adopted into the tribe. But the most 
romantic account ran thus: In the reign of Queen Elizabeth a 
Spanish fleet made a descent upon tiie western coasts of Great 
Britain and Ireland and carried off several hundred Scotch and 
Irish. According to the custom of the time, they were sent to 
work in the newly-opened mines of Mexico. There they 
revolted, and escaped in a body to the Aztecs of the north, who 
were still resisting the Spaniards, and became the ancestors of a 
new race. It is a pity to spoil so much romance, but the prosaic 
fact is, these "White Indians" are nothing but Indians, pure 
and simple, as much so as the blackest of the tribe. They are 
nothing but albinos, and differ only from African albinos in the 
fact that this form is rather more apt to be hereditary than the 
other. In the majority of cases it is transmissible, but not 
always. The fact is proved conclusively by hair, skin, and 
eyes :• the first is a sickly, pinky red, mixed with white; the 
second is a waxy white, stained in places with yellow, and the 
eyes are very weak and " mooney," or perpetually "dancing." 
The girl of this family was almost blind at noon; the woman 
had tolerably good sight, but was " moon-eyed ; " and the man's 
eyes looked like two glittering pieces of glass stuck in the bot- 
tom of auger holes. His sight, however, appeared tolerably 
good, and the two boys, whose complexions were more nearly 
like those of other Moquis, had good natural eyes. It is possi- 
ble, of course, that there may be somewhere in Arizona a race 



DECAYING EACES. 589 

of " White Indians," but as for these, among the Zunis and 
Moquis, they are evidently not a distinct race. Both interpre- 
ters tell me all the others are just like these; that they some- 
times have dark children, and occasionally full-color Moquis 
liave white children. Their whiteness, in fact, is nothing but a 
disease. If the term be medically correct, I would call it a spe- 
cies of American leprosy. We need not go far to find the causes : 
a people living in this hot, dry climate, on hard, dry food, in 
the midst of burning sands, drouth, and misery, and shut up in 
these little isolated communities, Avhere the same families have 
intermarried in all probability for twenty-five generations. The 
only Avonder is that they are not totally extinct, or ring-streaked, 
speckled, and grizzled. With the exception of their houses, the 
Moquis do not apjjcar to me as much advanced in the arts as 
the Navajoes. They weave blankets, but not as good as those 
oP the latter. They make beautiful crockery, painting it with 
fanciful figures and flowers by means of different colored clays 
or stones obtained from the mountains. Their cookery is infe- 
rior to the Navajoes, and they learn much less readily. They 
are, in fact, a decaying race, at the last end of the series; while 
the Navajoes are at the beginning, a new and vigorous race. 

In the "good old time," when the Pueblo races dominated 
the whole country, they were much more numerous than now, 
and their settlements nearly continuous; intermarriages took 
place between the various towns, their language was nearly the 
same, and they v/ere prolific and progressive. Now they con- 
stitute but little islands, as it were, in an ocean of Utes, Nava- 
joes, and Apaches; the separated towns have gradually grown 
apart, and become distinct nations ; they have no central priest- 
hood or ecclesiastical connection, their religion and learning 
steadily decay, and even the tradition of a common origin is fast 
becoming obscure. 

So much for what I know about the Moquis. And as I pro- 
ceed to a wider range of inquiry, allow me to state that in what 
follows there is no attempt at an exhaustive or scientific treat- 
ment of the subject. I merely aim to state, in poj)ular language, 
(1) What is positively known ; (2) What may be considered 



590 THE MOUND BUILDERS. 

proved ; and (3) What may reasonably be conjectured in regard 
to the aiicient civilized inhabitants of America. 



I. — WHAT IS POSITIVELY KNOWN. 

A people for whom we have no name, vaguely included under 
the general term of Mound-Builders, have left evidences of ex- 
tensive works in the vicinity of the Mississippi and Ohio and 
their tributaries. These remains are of three kinds : mounds, 
square and circular inclosures, and raised embankments of various 
forms. Of mounds, the following are most important and best, 
known : One at Grave Creek, West Virginia, 70 feet high, and 
1000 feet in circumference at the base; one near Miamisburg, 
Ohio, 68 feet high, and 852 feet in circumference; the great 
truncated pyramid at Cahokia, Illinois, 700 feet long, 500 wide, 
and 90 in hight; the immense square mound, with face of 188 
feet, near Marietta, Ohio; and some hundreds of inferior mounds 
from six to thirty feet in hight, in different States, from Wis- 
consin to the mouth of the Mississippi. Some of those in Wis- 
consin are described in the first chapter of this work. Unlike 
all the mounds in Mexico and Central and South America, those 
in our country have no trace of buildings on them. Why ? 
Until I visited Arizona I had no answer. There the solution 
was easy. In those regions stone was abundant, and timber 
scarce ; here the reverse was the case. Our predecessors built 
of wood, the others of stone ; the \vorks of the latter remain to 
this day, while wooden buildings would leave no trace after one 
or two centuries, if indeed they were not burnt by the savages 
as soon as abandoned. 

Of the second class the best known are : the square fortifica- 
tion at Cedar Bank, Scioto River, Ohio, with face of 800 feet, 
inclosing a mound 245 feet long by 150 broad ; the works four 
miles north of Chillicothe, Oiiio, a square and a circular forti- 
fication inclosing twenty acres each ; the graded way near 
Piketon, Ohio; about a hundred mounds and inclosures in Ross 
County, Ohio ; tiie pyramid at Seltzertown, Mississij)pi, 600 feet 
long and 40 feet high, and a vast number of mounds, inclosures, 



MEXICAN ANTIQUITIES. 591 

squares and pyramids on the upper lakes and scattered through 
the Southern and Western States. 

Of raised embankments I note: the Great Serpent, in Adams 
County, Ohio, five feet high and thirty wide, winding in ser- 
pentine form for 1000 feet, and terminating in a triple coil; 
embankments enclosing sixteen acres, seemingly intended to 
fortify a hill, in Butler County, Ohio; besides a number of 
graded ways at Circleville, Ohio, and Frankfort, Kentucky. 
The work of Messrs. Squier & Davis, published by the Smith- 
sonian Institution, the highest authority on the subject, gives 
account of over two thousand of these remains, scattered over 
the Southern and Western States. Their location caused A. D. 
Richardson to say : " The centers of population are now where 
they were when the Mound Builders existed." But there is 
this important difference: the densest population was then in 
the South ; their military border was towards the Nortli. 

The second division of American antiquities begins in Utah 
and Nevada, and extends southward through Arizona and 
Mexico. Like those in the United States these are pretty well 
known and described ; for but few of them are located in dan- 
gerous districts. The ruins heretofore described, tiie Casas 
Grandes on the Gila, the remains of the original City of Mex- 
ico, the great pyramid at Xochicalco, State of Mexico, the City 
of Tulha, ancient capital of the Toltecs, and a regular line of 
ruins thence down to Central America, and across to the mouth 
of the Mississippi, serve to connect these with those of the 
United States and those further south. Among them are re- 
mains of dwellings, palaces, temples, vast tumuli, acecquias and 
aguadas, or artificial ponds. They were of hewn stone laid in 
mortar, and have consequently endured better than our own 
wooden erections. 

The third, and by far the greatest, division is in Central and 
South America; and here we find ourselves at the point where 
our ancient civilization reached its hight, among works which 
are the astonishment of explorers and perplexity of scholars. 
Yucatan is a vast field for antiquarian research ; dotted from 
one end to the other with the ruins of cities, temples and pal- 



592 ANCIENT YUCATAN. 

aces. But in the great forest which covers the northern half 
of Guatemala, the southern half of Yucatan, and parts of other 
States, covering an area larger than Ohio, is to be found the 
key to our ancient history. Within a few years past cities have 
been found there which must have contained a population of a 
quarter of a million, in an advanced condition of life; and yet, 
owing to the jealousy of the natives and the indiiferencc of 
scholars, next to nothing is known, and few scientific researches 
have been made upon this intensely interesting subject. Never- 
theless, by the labors of Stephens, Del Rio, Bourbourg, Captain 
Dupaix and others, a good beginning has been made. I ap- 
pend briefly the facts and figures definitely known : 

Palenque, in the Mexican State of Chiapa, was unknown 
alike to the Aztecs and invading Spaniards — forgotten long 
before the time of Cortez. It is so named from a small town 
near, now inhabited. Two hundred years after the conquest, 
to wit, in 1750, the ruins were first discovered by the Spaniards; 
and in 1787 Captain Del Rio visited them, and took measure- 
ments of "fourteen edifices admirably built of hewn stone, ex- 
tending seven or eight leagues along the river Chacamas and 
half a league the other way." Mauy others have since visited 
the place. The largest building, called the Palace, has a pyra- 
midal foundation 40 feet high, 310 long and 260 wide; the 
edifice is 228 feet long, 180 wide and 25 feet high, with four- 
teen doorways on each side and eleven at each end. It was 
built entirely of elegantly hewn stone, laid with precision, in 
mortar of the best quality. There is much fine carving, and 
evidence of some skill in painting. Other noted buildings are 
of somewhat smaller size, and the entire city must have con- 
tained a hundred thousand inhabitants. 

Copan is in the extreme western part of Honduras, in a soli- 
tary and almost impenetrable forest. The natives are barbar- 
ous and suspicious of strangers. Nevertheless the place has 
been visited and fully described. The ruins extend three miles 
alono- the river but how far back is not known. There are 
walls of sixty and ninety feet in hight; the front of one palace 
with rielily sculptured designs; another with fine arabesques, 
and a number of carved monoliths and basso relievos. 



QUIRIGUA AND MITLA. 593 

Quirigua [Keereewah) is a name given to a vast extent of 
ruins on the river Motagua, in the forest of Guatemala. The 
ruins appear to be much older than those previously described, 
and are evidently those of an immense city. There are pyra- 
midal structures with stone steps, immense carved monoliths, 
large obelisks carved with human figures, and a vast array of 
broken walls, the sides covered by inscriptions. 

Mitla is in the Mexican State of Oxaca, in a valley, sur- 
rounded by a barren waste. Only six edifices and three pyra- 
mids remain ; but these are most elegant. Captain Dupaix and 
Desire Charnay (who saw them in 1866) both speak in most 
extravagant terms of the elaborate work. Says the latter : 
" Evidently the palaces were built with lavish magnificence. 
They combine the solidity of the works of Egypt with the ele- 
gance of those of Greece. But what is most inter-esting and 
remarkable in these monuments, which alone would be suflficient 
to give them the first rank among the orders of architecture, is 
the execution of their mosaic relievos, very different from plain 
mosaic, and consequently requiring more ingenious combination 
and greater art and labor. They are inlaid on the surface of 
the wall, and their duration is owing to the method of fixing 
the prepared stones into the stone surface, which made their 
union with it perfect. Their beauty can only be matched by 
the monuments of Greece and Rome in their best days." 

In the same region is an astronomical monument, with a 
figure of a man in profile, holding to his eye a tube which is 
directed toward the stars. On all these ruins are found patches 
of inferior stone work on the superior, and evidently of later 
date; and on that work traces of painting wholly primitive in 
style, rude figures of men and idols, and wandering lines that 
have no significance. These facts are held to indicate that after 
the first builders, the places were occupied by a somewhat in- 
ferior people, who in turn gave way to comparative barbarians. 

But when we pass to the third division, in Peru and neigh- 
boring countries, we find the most conclusive proofs of art and 
civilization many centuries before the first of the Incas. The 
proofs multiply with every examination. There was a vast 
38 



594 A WONDERFUL PEOPLE. 

empire, extending over twenty degrees of latitude. Them was 
one paved road five hundred miles long, the pebbles of ■\vhieh 
it was constructed so well laid that large sections of it remain 
to this day. There were curious manufactures, and there are 
beautiful monuments. There were gauzy articles, wrought of 
pure gold, so light that a zephyr might waft them from your 
fingers. They had complicated records, both public and pri- 
vate, kept by the quippus — threads of various colors, ingeniously 
arranged and tied in knots to express ideas, numbers and sen- 
tences. A skull in the possession of a lady in Cuzco, from one 
tomb, shows that they understood the operation of trepanning; 
and the skill displayed was equal to that of the present day. 
Their surgical instruments, now in the Bureau of Peruvian 
Antiquities, show that they practised bleeding, tooth-drawing 
and amputation ; they treated fractures by wrapping the broken 
limb in several species of plants till reunion of the bone took 
place. Several heads have been found in which the natural 
palate had been destroyed, and the difficulty somewhat relieved 
by a fine gold plate. Numerous drawings both of plants and 
figures show that they examined the tongue in gastric troubles, 
employed a species of valerian as an antispasmodic, and gave a 
decoction of the plant from which quinine is made as a remedy 
for fevers. 

They had timbrels, bells, drums, a pipe with nine reeds, a 
stringed instrument resembling the guitar, and a variety of flutes 
and trumpets. One has been found, made of a human thigh- 
bone. Their religion M-as a sort of enlightened idolatry; light, 
fire and the sun were objects of worship; and from numerous 
vases, cups and drawings, Dr. Augustus Le Plongeon, latest and 
most thorough explorer, demonstrates that they practised bap- 
tism, confirmation and confession, and believed in the immor- 
tality of the soul and a future of rewards and punishments. 

Their principal city was supplied with water by pipes inlaid 
with gold, from immense springs in the mountains. The In- 
dians at the time of the Conquest destroyed most of these, to 
deprive the Spaniards of water, and the latter cut up many for 
the gold ; but one remains entire, and now supplies the convent 



PEOOFS POSITIVE. 595 

of Santo Domingo. The obscurity hanging over their iiistory 
seems utterly impenetrable. There are numerous inscriptions, 
but nobody can read them. Some few of their books remain, 
but scientific enquirers have not yet obtained possession of ihem. 
The furious cupidity and fanaticism of the Spaniards cut off 
our best sources of knowledge; they converted the natives to 
Catholicism with the stake, sword and bloodhound ; they melted 
every golden ornament and destroyed the most important forti- 
fications, while the priests burned every book they could obtain, 
and employed the most dcstructivo means to eradicate from the 
native mind every vestige of their ancient faith. Incredible 
were the precious evidences of art and learning that vanished 
before the blind fury of these gold-hunting Christians, who 
only excelled those they supplanted in one particular — the 
science of shedding blood. But it is now known that a few of 
the books escaped. M. Brasseur de Bourbourg has rendered 
one inestimable service to American antiquarians. He passed 
several years among the Mayas Indians of Yucatan, learned 
) their language, and thereby found a key to translate one of the 
old books of Mayapan, throwing a flood of light upon its his- 
tory. But no connection has been established between it and 
the Peruvian inscriptions. 

II. WHAT IS CONSIDERED PROVED. 

In my limited space I confine this enquiry mostly to the 
remains in our own country. From what we see in the West- 
ern and Southern States, the following conclusions are evident : 

1. The Mound-Builders constituted a considerable popula- 
tion, under one government. No wandering and feeble tribes 
could have erected such works ; and the extent of the works, 
evidently, many years in erection, as well as their completeness 
and scientific exactness, show the controlling energy of one 
directing central power. 

2. They were an agricultural people. The barbarous state 
requires at least a hundred times as large an area for the same 
number of people as the civilized state; and the savage condi- 
tion a much larger. The State of Ohio will support an agri- 



596 THE TOLTECS OUK MOUXD-BUILDERS. 

cultural population of ten millions; it never contained fifty 
thousand savages. It is easily demonstrable that that portion 
of the United States east of the Mississippi never contained 
half a million, probably not a quarter of a million, Indians. It 
follows, also, that a very large portion of the country around 
their works must have been cleared of timber and in cultivated 
fields. 

3. They left our country a long time ago. Nature does not 
give a forest growth at once to abandoned fields ; a preparatory 
growth of siirubs and softer timber comes first. But forest 
trees have been found upon the summit of their mounds which 
show, by annual rings and other signs, at least six hundred 
years of growth. 

Their works are never found upon the lowest terrace of the 
formation on the rivers; though many signs indicate that they 
built some as nearly on a level with the streams as possible. 
Their "covered ways," leading down to water, now terminate 
on the second terrace above. It is demonstrable that of the 
various terraces — " second bottoms " — on our streams, the low- 
est was longest in forming. From these and many other signs, 
it is proved that the last of the Mound-Builders left the Ohio 
valley at least a thousand years ago. 

4. They occupied the country, at least the southern part of 
it, where their population was densest, a very long time. This 
is shown by the extent of their works, the evidences of their 
working the copper-mines of the Superior region, and many 
other proofs. The best judges estimate that nearly a thousand 
years elapsed from the time of their entrance till their de- 
parture from the Mississippi valley. 

5. At the south they were at peace; but as they advanced 
northward, they came more and more into contact with the 
wild tribes, before whom they finally retired — again towards 
the south. These facts are clearly proved by the increase of 
fortifications northward, and broad flat mounds, suitable only 
for buildings, southward. 

So much for proof; and, connecting these with other proofs, 
the latest antiquarians are of opinion that the Toltecs — the 
civilized race preceding the Aztecs — were our Mound-Builders. 



THE COLHUAS. 597 

"When we pass to tlic more southern ruins the j)roofs of great 
antiquity, large population and long occupation are vastly in- 
creased. Some of them have been alluded to. The great 
forest of Guatemala and Yucatan is nearly as large as Ohio 
and Indiana combined, and could easily have sustained a civil- 
ized population of ten millions. The Aztecs, whom the Span- 
iards found, were the last of at least three civilized races, and 
much inferior to the Toltecs immediately preceding them. 
Their history irrdicates that they were merely one of the 
original races, who overthrew and mingled with the Toltecs, 
adopting part of their religion and civilization. The Peruvian 
Incas, found by Pizarro, seemed to have been the second in the 
series of races. But civilization is not spontaneous; it must 
have required nearly a thousand years for the first of the three 
d^-nasties to have developed art and learning far enough to erect 
the buildings we find. To that race before the Incas, the 
authors of the original civilization, De Bourbourg and others 
have given the nan)e of Colhuas. 

Thus wc have the series: a thousand years since the INIound- 
Builders left our country ; a previous thousand years of settle- 
ment and occupation, and a thousand years for the precedent 
civilization to develop. Or, beginning in Mexico, etc. : a thou- 
sand years of Spaniard and Aztec; a previous thousand years for 
Toltec migration and settlement, and a thousand years before 
that for the Colhuas to develop, flourish and decline. Tiiis 
carries us back to tiie time when the same course of events was 
inaugurated on the Eastern Continent. We hioic that it has 
required so long to produce all we see in.Europe and Asia; all 
reasoning, by analogy and from independent facts, goes to show 
that at least as long a time has been required to produce equally 
great evidences in America. 

III. WHAT MAY REASONABLY BE CONJECTURED. 

Besides a host of surmises there have been at least nine 
theories promulgated, and strenuously defended, in regard to 
the origin of this civilization. 

1. The Jewish theory. Some forty years since Major Xoah 





598 



JEW, MALAY OR ASSYRIAN. 599 

raaintaiued that the " Lost Tri bes " were the ancestors of the 
American Indians and tlie buihlers of the ruins described ; and a 
few others held that, if not tiie Ten Tribes, there was a Jewish 
Colony. It would certainly be an amazing thing if such a 
people as the Jews could, in a few centuries, lose all trace of 
their language, religion, laws, form of government, art, science, 
and general knowledge, and sink into a tribe of barbarians. 
But when we add that their bodily shape must have completely 
changed, their skulls lengthened, the beard dropped from their 
faces, and tlieir language undergone a reversion from a deriva- 
tive to a primitive type — a thing unkown in any human 
tongue — the supposition becomes too monstrous even to be dis- 
cussed. 

As far as I know Orson Pratt, the renowned champion of 
Mormonism and polygamy, is the only scholar of the present 
day who maintains that theory ; and he is forced to admit that 
all these changes must have been the result of a stupendous 
miracle — " God cursing them with black skins." The average 
Gentile mind is not equal to the task of receiving such a theory. 
From Alaska to Patagonia not a Hebrew letter has been found 
in any inscri{)tion. 

2. The Malay Theory is that a great Malay Empire, once 
existing in the island of Malaysia, planted colonies here; but 
this is easily disproved. 

3. The Phoenician Theory ; that those ancient navigators 
planted colonies in America. If correct, this would be certain 
of demonstration ; for they were preeminently a people of 
letters and monuments. The Phoenician alphabet is the parent 
of all the alphabets of Europe except the Turkish. They must 
have left some trace of their language. But none has been 
found. Nor can any similarity be traced in the ruins with the 
works of the Phoenicians. 

4. 5, 6. The Assyrian, Egyptian and Roman Theories fell 
for the same reasons as the Phoenician. The works of none of 
these people have any marked resemblance to those found in 
America. A pyramid or temple here is no more like an 



600 WHY AN EXOTIC? 

Egyptian or Assyrian one than a Chinese pagoda is like an 
American Church. 

7. The Northmen in America have been credited with these 
works. It is barely possible the remains in the United States 
might be thus accounted for ; but how about the far more extensive 
and elaborate works in Mexico, Central and South America? 
The cause ascribed is utterly inadequate for the effect. 

8. The Chinese or Tartary Theory is, that about the year 1 250 
Kublai Khan sent Tartar colonics to America ; that among them 
were some Nestorian Christians, which accounts for the croisscs 
found. The time is utterly inadequate. Palenque and Copau 
were built and abandoned before the year 1250. 

9. The Atlantean Theory is, by far, the most brilliant and 
fascinating of all proposed, and appeals with subtle power to the 
imagination. It is propounded by Brasseur de Bourbourg, who 
maintains that the Island of Atlantis, often mentioned by 
ancient poets, had a real existence ; tiiat it extended nearly across 
the Atlantic, and was the cradle of civilization ; that it actually 
sank in the sea as the Greek poets tell us, and that the AVest 
India .Islands are the only portions that remain above water. 
He conjectures that from tiiis common center civilization spread 
cast and west, and supports this view by numerous traditions 
from both sides of the Atlantic. Of this theory we must regret- 
fully say, " Not proven." 

To dispose of so many theories to make way for my own 
opinion, is scarcely in keeping with the modesty I had proposed 
to myself; but, in my humblejudgment, these theorists all start 
from one fatal assumption : that this civilization was necessarily 
an exotic. Why not a civilization native to America as well as 
to any other country ? I would suggest that a good basis might 
be laid by analogy with the course of civilization in Euroj)e. 
There it began in the South, s})read slowly by successive develop- 
ments towards the North, where it was overwhelmed and driven 
back, as it were, by an irruption of barbarians ; it again revived 
in the South, and slowly extended to the North, where it is now 
advanced beyond the original. 

Similarly here the Colhuas originated civilization in the South ; 



A NATIVE CIVILIZATION. 601 

their successors, the Toltecs, carried it towards the North ; about 
the line of Ohio, they encountered the irruption of northern 
barbarians, and slowly retired towards the South ; there civiliza- 
tion again revived, and was steadily advancing towards the 
North when the Spaniards came and destroyed it. On each conti- 
nent the full cycle required about three thousand years. 

On this basis I should place the Moquis and other Pueblo 
races the last in a series of four, the second the greatest, and a 
decline thence to the last: Colhuas, Toltecs, Aztecs, Pueblos. 
In summing up, why are we reduced to the necessity of adopt- 
ing any hypothesis of an Eastern origin? Is it unreasonable 
to believe that self-improvement began among savages in 
America, as it did three thousand years ago among savages in 
Egypt and Greece ? Does sound philosophy forbid the theory 
of a spontaneous civilization in America? We are, perhaps, 
too much in the habit of thinking that everything really good 
originated with our branch of the human race. To my mind, 
the evidences are many — though a profound American archae- 
ologist might smile at the supposition — that this civilization 
was sni generis, native and not derived. We now know that in 
China a civilization developed spontaneously, totally unlike and 
receiving no aid from that of Europe. Two starting points 
proved, what is there to forbid the idea of a third ? This is as 
distinct from the European as is the Chinese; it shows i!o 
signs of derivation, and facts indicate clearly that the native 
mind of America is naturally equal to either of the others. 
Within the memory of man a Cherokee has invented a complete 
alphabet, one serving the purpose in his language better than 
ours does in the English. (Better because each letter rei)resents 
invariably one and tlie same sound.) This fact is w-orth a vol- 
ume of conjecture. It shows that the human mind was slowly 
working toward something better in America, the same as in 
Europe, the only difference being that, from reasons of race or 
climate, it there got an earlier start. 

And as to the Northern barbarians who destroyed this civili- 
zation, why are we driven to inventing a plausible theory as to 
how they crossed from Asia ? The account of a literal Garden 



602 CONCLUDING THEORY. 

of Eden, and one only pair from whom all the two thousand 
varieties of our race descended, is given up by many of the 
most learned divines of the age. Nor is the hypothesis of a 
confusion of tongues, in the popular sense, borne out by a criti- 
cal reading of Genesis ix. ; and the structure of language shows 
it to be totally unnecessary to account for the present variety of 
tongues. Every one of them would have existed just the same, 
resulting from a natural principle of divergence, if Babel had 
never been. On the whole, then, I incline to flank all the diffi- 
culties of the main question thus : America, as shown by 
geology, is the oldest of the continents, and, it is quite reasona- 
ble, therefore, to suppose, was first inhabited. She had an origi- 
nal population of her own, independent oi' Adam and Eve, Noah, 
or any other man. This race had a native genius peculiarly its 
own, totally unlike that whicli develo])ed in Asia the Chinese 
civilization, or that in Europe which created that of the Greek 
and Roinan and the later nations. Like them, thousands of 
years passed in barbarism before even a start was apparent. But 
civilization did begin in America, and was reviving from its first 
overthrow when the whites came. In seeking to engraft on it 
an alien civilization they destroyed it. Mexico had advanced 
through the savage and barbarous to the half-civilized state; 
the New England tribes had taken the first steps toward improve- 
n>ent, and the New York Indians had already a political organi- 
zation, code of laws, national confederacy, and system of repre- 
sentative council and government. Had the whites discovered 
America a tiiousand years later, they might have found on 
the Atlantic coast a completed native civilization, as perfect as 
that of China to-day, or more so. Tiie* innate })ower of the 
Indian mind, among the superior tribes, is evident. The infe- 
rior ones would have perished as did inferior aboriginal races 
before Asiatic and European civilization. As I disclaimed in 
the beginning a critical acquaintance with American archaeology, 
this may go as merely my theory about the Pueblos. If the 
reader don't like it, he is quite at liberty to construct one of 
his own. 




CHAPTER XXVIII. 

ARIZONA.. 

A big country — A strange parallelogram — A region of mountain, canon and 
plateau — Antiquities — Wild Indians — Maricopas and other village Indians— 
We leave Moqui — Nature of the country — ^Camj) of the "Outlaw Navajoes" — 
Ilomantic narrations — Navajo beauty^-Their theology — Fish, turkeys, and 
human beings — Who are they? — Their treatment of women. 

-B 

|ISTANCES are deceitful in the far West ; and, as the 
Eastern reader understands them, it may almost be said 

.^ that figures will We. For when I say that I journeyed 

■o A^ eight hundred miles in nine weeks, through New-Mexico 
and Arizona, the reader will hastily conclude that I must 
have seen most of the country worth seeing. In reality I saw but 
a very small part of it ; for the two Territories together are five 
or six times the size of Ohio. I merely saw a specimen of each 
division, its productions and inhabitants. But before I go 
northward, a brief sketch of Arizona entire, is appropriate. 

This Territory and the western half of New Mexico form a 
singular parallelogram, with an area about five times that of 
Indiana. Size is the only j)oint of comparison with our State 
which would be intelligible to the Eastern reader: all the pro- 
cesses of nature, as well as the productions and inhabitants, seem 
to be on a totally different plan. 

This parallelogram is bounded on the east by the Rio Grande 
("Great River"), on the west by the Colorado ("Red-earth 
River"), on the south by the Gila {Hee-tay\ and on the 
north by the Colorado and San Juan ("St. John"). The whole 
square lies in a succession of plateaus from two to eight thousand 
feet above the level of the sea. Nearly down the center — some 
fifty miles east of the Arizona boundary — runs the Sierra Madre 

603 



604 



DESCRIPTIVE. 




BREAK IN THE FORMATION.' 



("Mother Range") 
Mountains ; from 
their summit, eight 
thousand feet liigh, 
the country falls 
off in a succession 
of mesas and pla- 
teaus each way, 
to the two great 
rivers. Tiie trav- 
eler proceed i ng 
westward from the 
llio Grande, over 
an almost level 
mesa, sees rising 
before him a range 
of rocky hills, from 
a hundred to a 
thousand feet higl;, 
and naturally looks 
for a descent on the 
western side. But 
reaching the sum- 
mit, he again finds 
the level, often bar- 
ren mesa spreading 
away before him, 
till its sandy and 
glistening surface 
fades into the blue 
horizon. Thus the 
eastern half of this 
region might be 
represented as a 
great flattened pyra- 
mid, the successive 
" benches" stretch- 



TOPOGRAPHICAL. 605 

ing away from ten to a hundred miles in width. A great change 
appears westward of the summit. There the high plateaus are 
broken across by awful chasms; gorges with perpendicular sides 
go winding tortuously through the formation ; all the streams 
run in great canons from two to five thousand feet in depth, 
with bottoms from one to four thousand feet above the level of 
the sea. Here and there the barren plateau a[)pears to drop 
suddenly to a level plain, and rocky ranges of hills enclose an 
oval valley, walled in on every side by inaccessible mountains, 
and with passes out only up or down the beds of ancient streams, 
long since dry. It is the oldest country on earth, except per- 
haps the "back bone" of Central Africa; natural convulsions 
have slowly heaved it far above the region of abundant rains or 
snows, and the great Colorado, with its affluents, has for ages 
been slowly cutting deeper and deeper channels in the sandstone 
formation, tapping the sources of the springs at lower points, and 
steadily sucking the life out of its own basin. On the rocky 
hills are still some fine forests; on the slopes the Indians find 
abundant bunch grass and wild sage for their hardy animals ; 
and at rare intervals, a hidden valley is found, low enough to 
have a growing season without frost, with water enough for 
irrigation, its soil the volcanic detritus of neighboring hills, and 
of wonderful fertility. Perhaps one-twentieth of the entire area 
is fit for agriculture. 

Along the northern portion of this parallelogram are found 
strange races of friendly and partially civilized Indians : the 
Pueblos, Zuiiis, Moquis, Teguas, Oraybes, and Navajoes. 
All but the last are included in a general class as Pueblos, 
meaning " villagers." They plow the soil with forked logs; 
raise corn and beans; manufacture blankets and pottery, and 
are generally simple, civil and un warlike. Far otherwise is it 
south of the Little Colorado and Puerco. There the San Fran- 
cisco, White and Mogollon Mountains and their spurs break up 
the country into a thousand hidden valleys, in which the mur- 
derous Apaches hide, and graze their storM ; the few trails go 
twisting through narrow caHons, in which at most unexpected 
places the savages let fly upon the unwary traveler a shower of 



606 COST OF AN APACHE. 

poisoned arrows; and dreary intervals of fifty or a hundred 
miles separate the few water holes, which are hidden in rocky 
coverts or scrubby thickets, where the Indians keep almost 
continual ambush. Hence in Arizona the white population is 
found exclusively along the Gila, and in the southwestern 
corner, unless we include a few Mormon ranches northwest of 
the Colorado. The whites- consist of four thousand Americans 
and seven thousand Mexicans ; and this small number average 
a loss of ten per month from the Apaches — about half the 
mortality of an army in active service. The entire Apache 
race, consisting of the Pinal, Mohave, Coyotero, Mescalero, and 
White Mountain tribes, does not exceed seven thousand per- 
sons — perhaps two thousand warriors. These warriors cost the 
Government annually a thousand dollars apiece : two million 
dollars a year for the army in Arizona, to protect four thousand 
Americans against two thousand Apaches. It is a costly ex- 
periment, and almost a total failure. There are a few tribes 
with whom the present policy is not a success. Hence I turned 
northward when I reached the border of the Apache country. 

It is my firm belief, from considerable study of the subject, 
that the American Indians are capable of civilization, if a 
proper course were adopted. But there are exceptional branches 
among them, just as there are among white, black or brown 
races : certain tribes are doomed to extinction, and chief among 
these are the Apaches. The build of their heads forbids all 
idea of quiet industry; the conception of civilization could not 
be fired into their skulls. Every Apache is a born robber and 
murderer. Extermination, whether in war or under the form 
of reservations and legal justice, is their certain fate; and the 
quickest way is, perhaps, the most merciful. 

It is directly the opposite with the Navajoes. They acquired 
considerable civilization before they met the whites; they will 
work readily at any productive employment, and learn the use 
of tools very readily. There is as great a difference between 
a Navajo and an Ap^he skull as between that of a Saxon and 
a Malay. I todTv occasion to examine several of both tribes 
when our party got down to the old hunting-ground, where 



INDIAN DEPREDATIONS. 



607 



several battles had been fought, and \vhere I saw probably fifty 
skulls, both Apache and Navajo. The latter are high and 
round enough to show considerable development in the moral 
qualities, and the capacity to keep treaties. 

Mangus, an old Apache chief who used to raid on the Jor- 
nada del Muerto and stage road south of Santa Fe, it is said, 
once made a promise to a stage driver who had saved his life, 
and kept his word. But it is the only case I ever heard of. 
His skull, showing the hole where a rifle ball entered his 
brain, is now in the possession of Professor O. S. Fowler, who 
k i nd ly al 1 o wed ni e a d ra w i ng 
of it. From the shape I 
sus[)ect he was not a real 
Apache, but a runaway from 
some superior tribe. 

Of the southwestern part 
of the Territory a reliable 
acquaintance writes, dating 
at Prescott, the capital : 

" There is plenty of good 
farming land on all the 
streams iiere, and some very 
large arable valleys. Much 
of this part of Arizona is 
a fine grazing country, and 
would be covered with herds 
if the Indians were out of 
the country. 

" I certainly believe I am within bounds, when I say that the 
Indians steal one-fourth of the live stock every year. They 
take more horses and mules than other stock, and in some dis- 
tricts steal at least one-half of these every year ! People expect 
forays, and have philosophically determined to take the chances. 
Since I luive been here (two and a half years), herds of cows 
have been driven off by Indians, from within one mile of this 
town, three times; the herders killed at one time, and at the 
other desperately wounded. These outrages occurred within 




A FRIENDLY APACHE. 



608 



PRODUCE. 





SKULL OF MAXGUS COLORADO, OR "RED SLEEVE." 
A "good INDIAN," 



one mile of Fort "Whipple, military headquarters of the Terri- 
tory. You may imagine that people do not keep very fine 
stock, to have them take their chances, and be run off at every 
incursion by the red devils; but, unfortunately, they do. There 
are not many teams kept for driving, the people mostly travel- 
ing on horseback. The freighting is done by mule teams, 
though ox teams are extensively employed. All the groceries, 
dry goods, farming and mining tools, machinery, etc., have to 
be hauled by teams an average of two hundred and fifty miles. 
Then there is all the hay and grain for the various military 
posts to be delivered ; so you see that freighting is an important 
industry here, and is attended with great risk. 

"The average cost of delivering merchandise, from California 
to the points where it is consumed, is about ten cents per pound, 
•which makes living here rather expensive, though we have 
always plenty to eat. The country lacks one thing, that is, 
fresh fish. There are no good fish in this country ; game is 
plenty; so is butter in the summer, at $1.25 per pound, and 
eggs at $1 per doz. ; potatoes average about 8 cents per pound ; 
corn and barley about 7 cents; oats we have none; but we get 
enough to eat, and are contented enough under the circum- 



FARMING AND MINING PROSPECTS. 609 

stances, and if the Indians would only let us alone, wc would 
do well enough. We are living in hopes that a railroad will 
soon be built through the Territory, which will clear out the 
Indians, while nothing else Avill. The country has plenty of 
rich mines, but no mines in the world can be worked and pay 
the prices we now have to pay for everything we use, not in- 
cluding the losses to be sustained from Indian depredations. 
Now it takes two men to do one man's w'ork : one to watch for 
Indians while the other works. One day last week the Indians 
drove off every hoof of stock from a mining camp thirty miles 
south of here. This is no unusual occurrence; on the other 
hand, it has become so common that it is forgotten in a day. 
A railroad will change all this; for with it comes cheap trans- 
portation and plenty of men to work the rich mines of the 
country. 

" Tliere is no doubt but the Thirty-fifth parallel railroad is 
one of the best routes across the Continent. It passes through the 
richest portion of the country, on a route easily built, and one 
that will have no snow to interfere with its travel in the worst 
winter. It passes through a country well timbered, a fine 
grazing country, and the richest mining country on the con- 
tinent, which, without the railroad, is of but little value. 

"One-half of the Territory is an unknown land. Every year 
parties make trips into the Indian country, and never fail to 
find good farming and mining prospects, though they can never 
give the country a thorough exploration, as the red-skins are 
always after them. There is a strip of country 100 miles wide 
and 200 miles long here, known to abound in minerals of every 
kind ; but the white man can not get into it to do anything until 
the Indians are disposed of. This is what we are all waiting 
for, and for this I am going to stay ; and if the Indians don't 
last longer than I do, I expect yet to have something out of the 
country. 

" Crops have been short, almost a failure, except when they 
had water for irrigation. There is plenty of land here that has 
water for irrigation, but most of it lies in localities that cannot 
be used on account of Indians. 
39 



610 



CROPS. 




FORMATION ON THE STREAMS. 



" The whole country shows ruins left by a people who once 
inhabited, but have ages ago deserted it, and left no clue of who 
they were or where they went. An agricultural people, no 
doubt they were, for you can see traces of their irrigating ditches 
wherever you go, and in places large canals undoubtedly used 
for irrigating purposes on an extensive scale. It is evident that 
they, like the present white population, had a hostile people to 
contend with. 

"In the higher parts of the country they can raise anything 
that grows in New York ; and in the southern or lower parts, 
on Salt River, and on the Gila River, oranges and other tropical 
fruits are grown in profusion. On the river lands they can 
obtain plenty of water for irrigation, and can raise two crops of 
grain in the year. F. C. A." 

I have erased from tiie foregoing all that treated specifically 
of the Indians. Still, occasional references to them will be seen. 



ARIZONA RIVERS. 611 

The average Arizouian mind will effervesce on the Apache 
question. 

On the map, Arizona appears to have abundance of water ; 
and, on general principles, it would seem that a Territory with 
water frontage of six hundred miles on as large a river as the 
Colorado, and crossed by two rivers each five hundred mjles 
long, would have fine facilities for commerce. Quite the reverse 
is the fact. " For thirty miles from the mouth of the Colorado 
River ■ the spring tides rise twenty-five or thirty feet, and are 
preceded by breakers six feet high, rushing up stream .with ter- 
rific velocity, and endangering small crafts and even large ves- 
sels if insecurely moored. The channel is very crooked, with 
an average depth of eight feet in low water, with occasional 
bars that have only three feet. The ordinary tides rise ten feet, 
and the river is ten feet deeper during the July freshet (supplied 
by the melting snows) than in November. The current has an 
average speed of two and a half miles per hour in low water and 
five miles in high water. There are snags and shifting banks 
of sand, but few rocks for three hundred miles from the mouth 
of the river ; then we come to one hundred miles of the best 
part of the river for navigation, where bars of gravel are fre- 
quent; then there are fifty miles of stony bed, witli frequent 
rapids ; and beyond the rapids we come to the celebrated Colo- 
rado Caiion, the rocky walls of which rise steeply in some places 
almost perpendicularly to a hight of four or five thousand feet. 
The river-bed in the caiion has a rapid descent and many large 
rocks, so that navigation is very difficult and dangerous. The 
explorers of the canon have found places where, by looking up 
through narrow tributary gullies, they could see the stars at 
midday, so little of the sky was in sight, and so dark was tlie 
spot where they stood. The elevation of the river four hundred 
and fifty miles from its mouth is eight hundred feet above the 
sea, showing an average descent of two feet per mile." 

Along the Gila are various tribes of peculiar and interesting 
half-civilized Indians: the Pimas, Maricopas and Papagoes. 
They cultivate the ground with some skill, and in that fertile 
soil and warm climate produce immense crops of wheat, pump- 



612 



APACHES DIMINISHING IN NUMBERS. 




SCENE ON THE COLORADO. 



kins and melons. They are also well supplied with horses and 
cattle. They have always been friendly to the whites, and until 
a few years past took pleasure in feeding and assisting travelers. 
But now they are reserved and uncommunicative, saying that 
the whites are trying to get their land, their women, and to 
divert the water they need for irrigation. They, too, are exposed 
to Apache raids. 

"All the other Indians are utterly savage, and rapidly 
decreasing by violence, disease and intoxicating liquors. Among 
tiie Yavapais there are four natural deaths to one birth. The 
Mohaves lose one-tenth their number yearly by venereal dis- 
eases alone. Fifty years ago the Apaches numbered thirty 
thousand. Two thousand warriors could readily be collected 
for a single raid into Mexico. Now six or seven thousand is 
the highest number assigned them. Arizona need not com- 
plain of them long." 



"JOHN." G13 

" The Covotero Apaches have few horses, and arc very poor. 
The Pinaleno Apaches are the most forniidable tribe, liaving 
more courage, cunning, and animosity against the white men 
tluiu any of the otliers. The Tontos are hostile and murderous, 
but cowai'dly. The Wallapais, the Yavapais, and the Coy- 
oteros are divided up into little cliques, some of which want 
peace and others do not. Among the Arizona Indians there is 
no strong tribal organization, and no men of ninch influence. 
The hostile. parties are often made up, not from any one clique 
or small settlement, nor do the members join at the command 
of a chief; but some ambitious leader sends word that he will 
start on a raid, and invites the braves of the vicinity to join. 
It is, therefore, utterly impossible to govern the tribes through 
the chiefs in the manner practised east of the Rocky Momi- 
tains." 

So much for Arizona at large, I resume the course of my 
own journey. The last day of my stay at Moqui, Navajocs 
were arriving and departing in considerable numbers, some to 
trade at other Moqui towns, and others to go on the tri[) west- 
ward to the Colorado. Among them were the father and 
sister of my new guide, the former en route to Utah, and the 
latter merely on a friendly visit to the Moquis. My guide 
arrived on the 23d, and presented his nelsoass, which read as 
follows : 

" To all whom it may concern : 

" Tlie bearer, a Navajo Indian, with his ftitlier, have permission to accompany 
J. H. Beadle, Esq., to the Mormon settlements. They are good Indians, and I 
trust any one who meets them will treat them kindly. 

THOMAS V. REAMS, 
Clerk Navajo Agency, 
June 21, 1872. Acting Agent." 

For convenience' sake I christened him John, the universal 
title for Indians and Chinese. 

And here I must record a marvel of aboriginal mail service. 
My spare time at Moqui I had employed in writing, and when 
my first Navajo started back to Defiance I delivered him an 
immense envelope full of MSS., directed to the Commercial, 



614 MAIL SERVICE. 

with instructions to deliver it to Mr. Keams at Defiance. 
From there an Indian is sent once a fortnight or oftener down 
to Wingate, and thence a military express runs once a week to 
Santa Fe. IVl^y jetters went through all those changes, and the 
material I delivered to John on the 24tli of June was published 
in the Cincinnati Commercial on the 13th of July ! 

Mem. to Senator Ramsey : Send for some Navajoes to take 
charge of the mails in Utah, and on the Union Pacific, where 
I once lost seventeen letters in three months. 

A heated discussion ensued in regard to the route. All 
were agreed that the usual route, straight westward via the 
Oraybe village, Avould not do now, as the unusual drought had 
dried up most of the pools ; and the others were in favor of a 
more southern route, requiring two more days, but with abun- 
dance of water. John, however, decided on a more northern 
route; and the result was he and I started alone, with the 
understanding that we were to meet with others on the way. 
The flowered calico I had taken to pay expenses at Moqui was 
exhausted, as the people had been extremely kind in furnishing 
me milk, and carrying in blankets full of grass for my horses; 
so I had nothing for a parting present to Chino but my sole 
remaining linen shirt — no use to me in this country. He gave 
me in return a most aifectionate parting hug, and a large roll 
of mescal. This plant (more properly maguey) is only occa- 
sionally used by the Moqnis, but forms half the living of the 
Apaches, as it comes to better perfection down in their country. 
In its green state it is the size of a large cabbage, but a little 
more compact, the leaves resembling those of a young mullen 
plant. Stripping these off, the fruit inside appears in shape 
much like a pine-apple, but not quite so large. It is crushed 
into cakes and dried, when it appears of a rich brown color, 
looking and tasting very much like a mass of dried peaches — 
or, rather, like those sugar-soaked canes we sometimes find in 
Orleans sugar. I like the taste of it very much, but on the 
road it seemed to produce too much thirst for comfort, unless 
we are nearing water. It is slightly cathartic in tendency, and 
is a very good change with dry bread and bacon. 



" DRY CAMP." G 1 5 

All set and off on the morning of the 2oth, after the warm 
embrace — Moqui good-bye — from Chino and the interpreters. 
Froni the north end of the mesa, we traveled about north- 
northwest nearly all day, through a country which did not 
seem so complete a desert as most of that east of Moqui. After 
leaving the immediate rim inclosing the villages, our route was 
over a surface either level or only gently rolling; good bunch- 
grass abounded everywhere, and on the ridges were considerable 
thickets of scrubby pine. Occasionally we would descend to a 
lower flood plain, with every evidence of great natural fertility, 
but from want of water perfectly barren, or only scantily 
furnished with bunch-grass. 

A heavy rain — a rare thing — had fallen the previous night, 
and we found water enough for our noon rest in the hollowed 
surface of a rock. A considerable ridge continued a few miles 
west of us all day. By expressive pantomime — this guide, I 
was sorry to observe, knew no Spanish — John informed rae 
that west of that ridge is a desert with neither grass nor water, 
which my horse could not cross from sunrise to sunrise; but 
that we would go around the north end of it, and along a good 
road. About 4 p. m. we came upon horse tracks leading Avest- 
ward, at which John was much excited, declaring them to be 
of Navajo stock. Here we turn toward the point of the ridge, 
and at the foot find a pool with water enough for our horses, 
and to fill our jugs, as we must make a "dry camp" to-night. 
Navajo and Moqui jugs are made of close wicker work, coated 
within and without with some gummy substance; they are 
very light and convenient for transportation, but give the 
water in the lapse of a few hours an unpleasant taste like tar 
water. 

An hour consumed in reaching the summit, though it does 
not appear more than a thousand feet high, we rode a few rods 
westward to a singular peak of conglomerate rock, and came 
out of the pines upon a splendid prospect. The cliff we are on 
slopes gently for some hundred yards, then breaks square off 
in a rugged precipice of a thousand feet to a plain below, which 
stretches north and west as far as I can see. But to the north 



616 



PEAK OF CONGLOMERATE. 



a dim, blue range appears, and this side of it a darker depres- 
sion with overhanging mist, which may be due to the great 
distance or the presence of water. John indicates that there is 
a great cliif there, three times as high as the one before us, at 
the bottom of which there is much water running very fast, 
and deeper than over my head three times ; but it is as far as 
we could travel from sun-up till the middle of the afternoon, 
and horses could not get up or down there for two days' travel 

in the direction from 
the Navajoes' home 
toward the 3Iormoney 
hogande (" Mormon 
settlements "). Of 
course this is the 
Colorado River, but 
I had not supposed 
we were so near it. 

We skirted the pre- 
cipice before us till 
we found a crevice 
and sort of rocky 
stairway, by which 
we got down to the 
plain, and thence 
traveled nearly 
straight west till 
dark, camping on a 
ridge with abundant 
grass, but no water. 
After supper John 
made a large bonfire to signal the other Navajoes, but we received 
no answer. We were off by moonlight this morning, John being 
all impatience to overtake the other party, and in three hours 
reached them, but they proved to be part of a band of five fam- 
ilies who had moved to a valley there. Here we find the only 
living spring and running stream on our route. The valley is 
bounded on the south by an abrupt cliff, not more than six 




PEAK OF COXC4LOMERATE. 



FINE STOCK. G17 

hundred feet liigh, and on the north by gently sh)ping liills, 
ricli in grass. This band are the wealthiest Navajoes I have 
yet seen, the five families having over a thousand sheep and 
goats, and at least two hundred horses. Men and Avonien have 
each a good riding horse, rather elegantly caparisoned, with 
stylish bridles and spurs, and in their camp equipage I notice 
many handsome vessels and copper kettles. That they arc of 
the aristocracy is further proved by the fact that they did not 
loaf about our camp or ask for anything ; but received our ad- 
vances with civil dignity, and sold us half a gallon of milk for 
fifty cents, like so many Christians. 

All their stock is in fine condition, and the place evidently 
affords rich pasturage. They were just bringing the stock to 
water, presenting a fine sight; the horses galloping down the 
cliff, the Indian boys after them on slopes where an American 
Avould not venture his horse in a walk, and the sheep and goats 
filling the vale with their bleatings, presented a scene to have 
delighted a pastoral poet. Their band contained several Amer- 
ican horses of superior breed, of which two excited my particidar 
admiration : one was a powerful, heavy-limbed, dark bay mare; 
the other a bright chestnut stallion, rather light-limbed and 
swift, who galloped around our horses a few times in provok- 
ingly showy style, his sleek coat glistening as if just from under 
the hands of a skilful groom. The pair M^ould have run up 
toward a thousand dollars in Ohio. To my inquiry as to where 
he got them, the chief said he did not know — an evasion, of 
course; but in a moment stated that he bought them of the 
Mormoneys — a lie, I strongly suspected. No matter, however, 
if he did steal them ; the owner will never get near enough to 
prove property, in this country. 

We concluded to remain here the rest of the day, and recruit 
our animals before entering upon the worst stage of our journcv. 
Besides the milk I purchased, John got a piece of smoked an- 
telope meat, and we had quite a breakfast feast, after which the 
Chief and family came and took a cup of coffee, the only thing 
I could spare. He was fluent in signs and Navajo, continually 
repeating till he was certain I understood. He exhibited a 



618 THE INTEKPRETER. 

German-silver dipper, and stated that many, many years ago, 
when he was too young to wear clothes, tiiree white men came 
from the north and hunted here for gold. They went south, 
and one was shot by the Apaches; the others brought him back 
and he died here. The others then traded everything they had 
for horses and provisions, and his father gave a horse and 
blanket full of corn for that dipper, which they had had ever 
since. The white men returned toward the Colorado, But 
long before he got to the end of this story we "stuck" com- 
pletely, when he went toward the cliif and shouted for '" Espa- 
noW 

A bright lad of some twenty years came down and addressed 
me in first-rate Spanish, acting thereafter as interpreter. He 
informed me he was captured in the beginning of the last war, 
and lived with the Mexicans six years, whence his Indian name, 
" The Spaniard ;" that he had driven teams to Denver and been 
on the railroad from there to Cheyenne, and consequently knew 
all about the Americans and their ways. The chief then struck 
in. It was three days to the Mormoney hogande, the first one 
where we would cross the river; his horse could go it in two, 
but mine could not, for his feet would not stand the stones ; his 
horse was better than my horse, and he could travel better than 
I ; there was sand all the way to Mormoney, no more springs 
and only water holes in the rock. In answer to my questions 
about the country, he drew a rude map in the sand with a sharp 
stick, and pointed out that it was nearly a day nortii for my 
horse to the big water, and two days south to the little water; 
that four days west they came together so (joining his fingers in 
the form of a V), and that three days northwest of that place 
was a great Mormoney casa, and that they were people like me, 
with plenty to eat and many horses. 

One fact he gave rather puzzled me, though he insisted on its 
truth. He said that straight north was a Mormon Doctor, who 
had come and fixed his leg here (showing a frightful scar), 
where the chestnut stallion kicked hira ; that he could walk to 
this doctor's in a day, but it would take my horse one day and 
till the sun was so high — about 10 o'clock — as there was a place 



THIEVING NAVAJOES. 619 

in the rock he could climb down, and my horse would have to 
go far around. Like the Moquis he inquired particularly if the 
Mormoneys were Americans, and said that some of the Indians 
had made war on them after they were at peace with the latter. 
I endeavored to explain, as I had to Chino and Misiamtewah, 
the difference between native and naturalized citizens; but did 
not succeed ; making them comprehend, however, that the Mor- 
mons were Americans. 

As we gather up in the evening ready to start early, I find 
my Navajo whip and knife sheath — among the curiosities I had 
purchased — missing. I had not supposed that John knew any 
English, but when I pointed out the loss, his face grew dark 
and he muttered, "Damn Navajo, shteal mooch," and darted 
for a boy some fifty yards away, whom he dragged into camp. 
A violent discussion ensued till the boy, with John's grip tight- 
ening on him, pointed to the cliif and muttered "Espanol." 
" Damn Espaiiol, shteal," said the guide, and ran up the cliff, 
where I heard another violent altercation, Navajo words ming- 
ling amusingly with English and Spanish oaths, and in a few 
minutes John returned waving the whip and sheath in triumph. 

The Navajoes will steal, but if you hire one he will guard 
your property against all the rest, in which respect they are 
better than any other Indians. As I made ready for early 
sleep, Espanol and other lads came down on a visit, and sat 
about the fire smoking our tobacco and talking as socially with 
John as if nothing unusual had happened. 

From what I learned of them on arrival in Utah, I judge 
these were of the " Outlaw Navajoes," a portion of the tribe 
numbering a thousand or more who do not agree to the treaty, 
or recognize the Agency party. They are quite friendly with 
the whites, but have made one raid into Utah since the peace; 
and at John D. Lee's I learned that the chestnut stallion which 
so excited my admiration had been stolen from him. Two 
hundred years of war with the Spaniards was surely enough to 
confuse a people's moral perceptions, and cause them to con- 
sider "levying tribute" on the whites as a perfectly legitimate 
operation. 



620 THE " NOBLE Rf:D MAN." 

This was the last settlement of theirs I visited, though they 
range clown to the junction of the two Coloradoes ; and in the 
evening they made our camp merry with their lively conversa- 
tion. Those who see the Indian only on the border know 
nothing of his real character ; for it is only the lowest and mean- 
est of the I'ace that hang about the white settlements. And 
their consciousness of oddity in appearance makes them feel 
and look meaner. One needs to go far into the interior, where 
they are "the style" and he the oddity; then their feeling of 
superiority gives them an air that is very near lordly. What 
it might be among the lower and more squalid tribes, I know 
not; but a summer's ramble with the Navajoes would be a de- 
lightful novelty to me. 

They have excited the curiosity of all intelligent men who 
have seen them : Governor Arny, of Santa Fe, thought they 
might be the result of a Japanese colony mingled with the 
aborigines; Major Powell considers them pure Indians, a branch 
of the great Shoshones race; Sequoyah, or George Guest, who 
invented the Cherokee alphabet, thought they were a branch of 
that tribe, and lastly a New Englander who visited them with 
Kit Carson in 1843, writes thus : 

" The jSTavajoes are a remnant of the ancient' Mexicans who 

have never submitted to their Spanish conquerors 

They reject all offers of amity with the present Mexicans, with 
whom they have fought for a hundred years, though very 
friendly with Americans. The men are tall, lithe and active; 
the women very handsomely formed, with bright, mobile and 
most pleasing features." 

The last part I can emphatically indorse. For the first time 
in my travels I found the "noble red man" and the "beautiful 
Indian maiden," whom I had supposed to be creatures of ro- 
mance, among the Navajoes. In the slang of the mountains, 
the Navajoes are " my pet Injuns," the only branch of the race 
I could ever feel any friendship for. When we reached the 
Colorado, the old man of our party spent many hours in teach- 
ing me their history and theology. There are twenty-one bands 
in the tribe, each with some peculiarities of belief, but the gen- 
eral ideas are these : 



NAVAJO TRADITIONS. 



G21 



There is one Great Spirit; under Him each people has its 
own god. The yod ot" the Melicanoes is very good to them ; but 
lie will not pay any attention to the Navajoes. Why should 
he? The coi/ote will not take up the young of the rattlesnake; 
the eagle will not give his meat to the children of the hawk. 
It is light, it is nature. Each cares for his own. The j\Ieli- 
canoes are great. They have corn, and horses, and blankets, 
much chimieahgo nah toh {" bread and tobacco "). Their god is 
very good to them. 

Whllohai/ (a female 
deity) made the Navajoes 
in the San Juan A^alley ; 
gave them, also, these 
mountains, and told them 
if they tried to live any- 
where else they would all 
die. But one night, 
Chin-day (" the Devil ") 
dammed up the San Juan 
and drowned everything. 
Besides the fish, only two 
creatures escaped : the 
snake swam ashore and 
the turkey flew up to a 
peak in Colorado. The 
goddess made the turkey 
into another man, and 
made a woman from a 
fish, and from these two 

are descended all the present Navajoes. However, this may be 
only an allegorical statement of the general masculine belief 
that the sex divine are inclined to be slippery and hard to catch 
Women after death change to fish for awhile; after that theii 
destiny seems unsettled. Because of this, Navajoes eat neither 
fish nor turkeys. The snake is the only airimal that knows 
anything about what took place in the first creation. Hence, 
Navajoes seldom or never kill one. From other fish Whilohay 




ESPANOL. 



622 ORIGIN OF THE NAVAJOES. 

refilled the animal creation. The turkey was made from a fish 
in a lake covered with foam, which lodged on his tail as ho 
swam ashore; hence, the white feathers in the turkey's tail. 
White men after death go up into the air ; Navajoes go down 
through Bat Canon and into the earth. Thence they come out 
a long way west, on the edge of a great water. The shore is 
guarded by terrible evil spirits in the form of men, but with 
great ears reaching from above their heads to the ground. 
When asleep, they lie on one ear and cover with the other. 
Whether they ever "walk oif on their ear," the old man did 
not inform me. Only half of them sleep at a time, and the 
Navajo has to fight his way through them. If he is brave, 
and has treated his women well, he gets through ; then the god- 
dess takes him across the water. There, like the white man, 
they stop ; from that country no one has ever come back, to say 
what is there, or tell us about the climate. 

But the reader must not too hastily infer, as do some, that all 
this is a tradition of the Noachian deluge. No savage })eople 
could possibly have traditions reaching back half so far. Their 
"long, long years ago" refer to much shorter periods than is 
generally supposed. The mind of a savage is like that of a 
child, easily fatigued ; he will not think long or earnestly on 
any abstract question, for thinking tires him. All wild people 
have traditions of famines, floods, and earthquakes, because all 
have had famines, floods, and earthquakes ; not one flood, but 
many. 

Since my return to the States I have been astonished to learn 
that American archaeologists have generally decided that the 
Navajoes were originally a Pueblo race; and that they became 
partially wild from having fled to the mountains on account of 
the Spanish invasion. Professor J. H. Baldwin, author of 
"Ancient America," gives them a high rank among the old 
civilized races ; and other writers assign them to the Toltec 
branch of the Mexicans. They add that the Natches, Ncz 
Perces, and Navajoes, instead of being original \vild tribes 
improved by contact and mixture with Pueblos, are original 
Pueblos degenerated by mingling with the wild tribes. This 



THE PRICE OF A WIFE. 623 

theory explains more of the facts I observed among them than 
any other. 

Like barbarian races generally, they sell their daughters in 
marriage. Common to average can be had for property to the 
value of $25; prime to fine for $50; while young and extra 
go at $60, the standard price of the Navajo speckled i)ony. 
While in Caiion tie Chelley, I was offered a beautiful Miss of 
fifteen for $60, or the horse I was riding. Perhaps I should 
have closed with the offer — it is so much cheaper than one can 
get a M'ife in the States. Two months vigorous courting will 
cost more than that — particularly in the ice cream-season. 




CHAPTER XXIX. 

DOWN TO THE COLORADO. 

Diversion from intended route — Nummary of the Thirty-fifth parallel route — 
Leave the outlaw Navajoes — Addition to our party — Our interpreter — Lost on 
the desert — An aboriginal joke — A wonderful grazing ground — Battle-field of 
Apaches and Navajoes — Comparison of skulls — Reach the Colorado Canon — 
Sublime sight — A fearful descent — Nine hours going down hill — No i^assage — 
Find one of Major Powell's boats — Dexterity of the Indians — I risk the passage 
— " ^lajor Doyle " — Indian romance — Castilian and Navajo tongues — Good-bye 
to my dark friends — Safely over at last. 

\^J%m Y original intention was necessarily abandoned on leaving 
Moqui ; for I could not follow the line of the Thirty-, 
fifth parallel road any farther west without entering 
the Apache country. After passing the summit of the 
Sierra Madre, the route turns a little to the soutiiward, 
and at Defiance, Arizona, I was fifteen miles north of it. From 
Defiance to the Moqui towns, leaving out the dej)arture to 
Canon de Chelley, my course was nearly straight M-est, and that 
of the road a little southward ; and at Moqui I was forty miles 
north of the line. The road continues to bear a little south of 
west, and crosses the Colorado at a place called the "Needles," 
not far from Mohave. The slope westward is great, with a 
corresponding increase of heat, and the Navajoes — a race of 
mountaineers, native to a singularly cool and bracing climate — 
can not endure the heat of southwestern Arizona nearly so well 
as a white man. 

At this departure a brief summary is in order. The general 
result of my observations was not a disappointment, as my ex- 
pectations of this western country were not so high as those of 
some who have never visited it. The first section of the Thirty- 
fifth parallel road, through Missouri, traverses a good country, 
C24 



DECREASE OF POPULATION IN SANTA FE. 625 

with the exception of that upon and near the Ozark Ridge. 
The second section, in the Indian Territory, crosses that fertile 
strip, which is two to three hundred miles wide, west of the 
Missouri line, and stretches from the Gulf of Mexico two liun- 
dred miles into British America. 

This road runs about the same distance through this fertile 
strip as the roads do in Kansas and Nebraska; and in much the 
same manner the good tillable land yields gradually to the 
"plains" proper. This last section, from two to four hundred 
miles wide, may possibly have one acre in fifty fit for cultiva- 
tion, by the aid of irrigation. A large portion of it is good for 
grazing; but grazing lands rarely build up large cities, and for 
s[)eculative purposes all that portion of the road between longitude 
100° and the Rio Grande may be dismissed from our summary. 

West of the "plains" comes the first mountainous region, 
which is practically of no value in our calculation ; and the next 
section is the Rio Grande Valley. Deducting the Jornada del 
Muerto ("Journey of the Dead") and upper lands, fit only for 
pasture, this oasis may be set down as three hundred miles 
long and ten miles wide, of great natural fertility. 

The railroad line bisects this tract, leaving nearly three-fourths 
of it south of the point of crossing, and at that point, as regards 
towns or town sites, was the only chance for speculation I 
saw on the whole route. The road, running nearly straight 
west, reaches the river at Bernalillo; it then runs down the east 
bank through Albuquerque to Isletta, and there crosses the river 
and proceeds westward. One of these three places is to be a very 
important city ; all of them will be considerable towns. The 
chances as to location appear to be in favor of Isletta, as the 
natural entrepot of all the valley south of it, but Albuquerque 
has the start. 

Santa Fe I consider entirely out of the question, though its 
inhabitants were jiroperlv indignant at my estimate of them and 
their town. It appears to me entirely out of the track of any 
railroad, and destined to slow death. All the signs indicate that 
its population is much less than it was ten years ago, and must 
continue to decrease for the next twenty. 
40 



626 "ameeican desert." 

Leaving the Rio Grande, we enter the "American Desert," 
wliich continues with but rare oases all the way to and beyond 
the Colorado. This route is like all other routes across the 
Continent in one respect : it must traverse a desert region from 
four to eight hundred miles wide. But this line has two advan- 
tages : the desert country is more narrow, and the natural route 
better. The whole region between the Rio Grande and Col- 
orado, from latitude 34° to 38°, is a grand succession of plateaus. 
Here and thei'e in western New Mexico is a small valley where 
half a dozen sections, by the aid of irrigation, sustain a miser- 
able Mexican hamlet of a few hundred people ; and in Arizona 
there are larger tracts on the San Juan and Colorado Chiquito. 

The mountains about Fort Wingate abound in timber. On 
the Navajo Reserve I crossed one splendid forest fifteen miles 
square, and southwest of Moqui, on the slopes of the San Fran- 
cisco and White Mountains, the road runs through a heavily- 
timbered country for over fifty miles. All accounts agree in 
representing that the timber there is very fine and the country 
well watered. In their best days, before their last war, when 
the Navajoes were the wealthiest tribe in the mountains, they 
pastured nearly a million sheep and goats between Dead Man's 
Canon and the junction of the two Coloradoes — about all the 
country could sustain. Many large tracts of grass are found 
without water, several of which we crossed. But making all 
possible allowance for timber, grass and water, at least half, if 
not two-thirds of this vast section — three hundred by four hun- 
dred miles in extent, four times the size of Indiana — is utterly 
worthless and irredeemable, uninhabited and forever uninhab- 
itable. Certainly it can not average one acre in a hundred fit 
for cultivation. It has some advantages over most of these 
deserts; where I traveled there is very little alkali, and the 
climate is not disagreeably warm. During the entire time I 
was with the Navajoes, my hardships were less than they have 
often been in the same amount of time on railroads. The ab- 
sence of alkali added greatly to my comfort, and the nights were 
always cool, the days often relieved by a pleasant wind. 

We were off from the camp of the Outlaw Navajoes, after 



A DOUBTFUL TRAIL. 627 

the usual handshakings, on tlie morning of June 27th ; and 
went in a succession of zigzags all forenoon, to nearly every 
point of the compass. In two miles we found the broad beauti- 
ful valley narrowed to a mere canon; and a little farther tlie 
canon to a deep, dark gorge, with walls quite perpendicular 
shutting out the sunshine, and the bottom thickly grown with 
scrubby pine. The stream had entirely disappeared a mile 
below the spring, but the condition of this timber showed that 
there was an under stratum of moist sand. Occasionally I saw 
a cavity which looked as if it might have been a spring a thou- 
sand years ago, in which one or two sickly cotton woods sus- 
tained a sort of dying life — enough to show that there was 
moist earth two or three feet below. The rock on our right 
appeared at one place to be broken square across, displaying a 
dark cross-cut, into which John whirled his horse. I followed 
to find a terribly dangerous-looking trail, up which we climbed 
some six or seven hundred feet to a tolerably level plain. For 
two miles due north we traversed a patch of rich grass; then 
the guide, a hundred yards ahead of me, suddenly disappeared, 
as if he had sunk into the earth. I hurried up to find him 
going down another narrow gorge, which opened as a rift in the 
earth not more than twenty-five feet wide, with an incline of 
forty-five degrees to the sandy bottom five hundred feet below. 
Through this a mile brought us out on another plain, across 
which we traveled some four or five miles; then brought up at 
a ledge which rose something like a thousand feet almost per- 
pendicularly above us. Along the foot of this, westward, a few 
miles brought us to a point where the face of the cliff fell back 
to a slope of forty-five or less; we sidled up this, and reached 
the summit with horses pretty well exhausted. Entering on 
another gently rolling sandy plain, with only occasional patches 
of good grass, about 10 a. m. we found a hole on the surface of 
the rock containing enough rain water for our horses. While 
resting a moment, a Navajo lad of some fifteen years came 
galloping up. He had reached Moqui the evening after we left 
it, and run his horse nearly to death to overtake us, which our 
halt at the spring alone enabled him to do. He had some fine 



628 UNPLEASANT POSITION. 

blankets, woven by liIs mother, and expected to trade them for 
a horse at the 3Iormoneij casa. AVe made a " dry camp " for 
dinner, took an hour's grazing, and were just off when up gal- 
Icjped Espaiiol, also with a few blankets. He had concluded, 
an hour after we left, to go to the settlement; because, as I 
suspect, he had noted the size of my provision sacks. We were 
now four in number, and traveled the rest of the day on a 
sandstone ridy-e tendine; west-northwest. Far as I could sec 
the country appeared to slope from this ridge northward and 
southward toward the two Coloradoes. 

About 5 P. M., we reached a regular water hole, to find it 
dry — to the dismay of the Navajocs. After a brief consulta- 
tion, Espanol informed me they would hurry on down the slope 
southwest, and find water on the other side of the next valley ; 
and that I might follow their tracks, poco-poco-poco (moderate 
walk). They galloped off, and were soon out of sight; I fol- 
lowed, and in an hour had lost their trail on a sandstone flat. 
Still I maintained the course toward a bright, green valley, 
which now appeared in the distance. I reached and crossed it, 
to find that the green was not from grass, as I had supposed, 
but from tlirifty greasewood. There was not a spear of grass 
nor a drop of water, though the shade of green on the brush 
showed there was moisture below ; and not a horse-track or a 
Navajo in sight. I began to feel very uncomfortable and nerv- 
ous. The prospect of being lost in that place was decidedly 
not pleasant. I fired my gun two or three times, and shouted 
with all my might, but no response. Determined finally to 
ascend the ridge west and overlook as much country as possible, 
I struck up a sloping hollow, and in half a mile came upon the 
three Navajoes sitting round a deep pool of water and grinning 
in concert. The aborigines had witnessed all my embarrass- 
ment, and attempts to trace them below ; but, true to the " noble 
instincts" of the race, preferred to sit and smile at me working 
out my own salvation. 

The horses could not get down in the water hole, so they had 
taken a blanket full of sand and made a dam across a little 
depression in the rock; this we rapidly filled with our wicker 



SCARCITY OF WATER. 629 

jugs, and so enabled our horses to drink. At 6 o'clock we were 
off again, and at 8 made a " dry camp." I soon went to sleep, 
but woke in an hour or so to find that the Navajoes had built 
an immense bonfire on a hill near by. This was soon answered 
by another, apparently twenty miles to the soutii. Our party 
then took torches of pine limbs and waving them as they went, 
built three more fires in a line a little north of west. The 
other party responded with three fires in a line apparently due 
west, or a little southward. Espanol translated this to mean 
that a considerable party of Navajoes were half a day's ride 
south of us ; that they would go straight on west, crossing the 
Little Colorado, and we would not meet them. 

AVe left camp on the 28th by moonlight, as the ride to water 
was to be a long one, and accomplished some twenty miles by 
10 o'clock A. M. We had traveled two hours down a sandstone 
slope, to find at the bottom a deep, moist hole, but no water. 
A little damp mud showed that it had been dry only a few days. 
The Navajoes consulted, and Espanol explained that they would 
go due north some fifteen miles, and at the head of a hollow 
running into the Great Colorado would find a hole which usu- 
ally held water longer than this, and therefore had enough now. 
As his horse was fresh, he would take two jugs and gallop on 
ahead, the others should follow in a trot, and I come on jioco- 
poco, till he brought back water to me. I was soon alone again, 
and had a weary, hot ride, of at least twelve miles, when I 
descended into a grassy valley, several miles wide, but saw no 
trace of the Navajoes. I rested, chewed mescal and let my horse 
graze an hour ; then rode nearly across, when I saw Espailol 
coming down the opposite side. He had enough water for me, 
and a hatful for my horse. They had reached the spring, rested 
an hour, and then concluded I had lost the trail again, 

A mile or two brought us to the water, which T found to be 
in a round hole, some ten feet deep in the sandstone, warm and 
staunant : but it made y-ood coffee, and the stock drank it with 
avidity. Espanol had started on the trip with about five pounds 
of dried antelope and two or three quarts of parched corn ; 
everything was in common, and we had quite a feast here. AVe 



630 "el MONTE ! GRANDE AGUA ! " 

started due west to come ou our former trail, and in a few miles 
left the sandstone ridge and went down into a beautiful vale 
eight or ten miles wide. The bunch-grass and white seed-grass 
were the finest I had seen, and there were many clumps of 
pinon pine, but no water or arable land. They informed mc 
that this valley extended entirely across between the two rivers, 
and was this wide, with good grass, all the way ; that at the 
south end it sloped dawn to the Little Colorado in broad green 
meadows, where was the only water in the whole tract. If 
their account be true, here is a section of one or two hundred 
square miles of rich pasturage, with no water except at one end. 

Far southward a mountain peak, its summit dazzling white 
with snow, rose in the form of a sharp cone ; and Espanol in- 
formed me that from the foot of that peak, there was much 
timber and game to the Little Colorado ; also, that when the 
first snow fell on the lower hills, the antelope and other animals 
came across into this grassy country by thousands; then the 
Navajoes went on their fall hunt, and used to meet the Apaches 
here long ago and had many fights. But now the Apaches 
never came this far north. 

We soon came to where skulls were quite numerous, some- 
times with other fragments of human bones. My companions 
called attention to the diiference between those of the two tribes ; 
and when we came upon five skulls in one place, two Navajo 
and three Apaches, Espaiiol said with a grin " Todos muertos, 
pero mas Ajmches^' (All killed, but the most Apaches). In 
the dry climate, on that sandy soil, the skulls may have lain 
there fifty years. 

AVe passed this and another sandstone ridge, on the west 
side of which we found a little depression with some five acres 
of good grass, and made a " dry camp." The dark cavity and 
blue mist over the Colorado had been visible all the afternoon, 
and John decided that we should descend the first cliff and go 
to the nearest spring before breakfast. We were oflP next 
morning by daylight, in a sweeping trot, and in an hour I 
heard from Espaflol, in the lead, the glad cry of '^ Elmonte! 
Grande agua ! " and hurried up to the cliff; but at the first 



so THOROUGHFARE. 



631 




TODOS MUERTOS, PERO MAS APACHES. 



view, recoiled with a sort of horror and dread. Before us 
was a sheer descent of at least three thousand feet, then a plain 
some three miles wide, led to an abrupt and narrow gorge, three 
thousand feet deep, at the bottom of which rolled, in forbidding 
whirlpools and rapids, the red and yellow waters of the Colo- 
rado. Notwithstanding the great distance, so far did it lie be- 
low rae that in some of the turns I could see the whole width 
of the stream. On the opposite side was a similar succession 
of cliffs, red and yellow sandstone, and seeming even more rug- 
ged. How on earth were we ever to get down, or once down, 
get- out again? John smiled at my look of dismay, and indi- 
cated our route down a narrow gulch, breaking into the clifT 
near us, Avhich it seemed to me certain destruction to enter. 
As usual I appealed to our Interpreter: 
" No camino bueno, mi amiffo, par los eaballos ? " 
"(Si, Scrior, si! si! Bueno hastanfe agui: Vpmos," replied 
Espafiol, pointing to a dark line a thousand feet below, whicii 
he insisted was a path, though it looked to me like a mere stain 
on the fiice of the cliff. 

Off horses, girths tightened, packs carefully examined, and 
walking behind the horses with lariats trailed over their backs. 



632 



THE FIKST DESCENT. 



we ventured on the descent; John in front shouting directions, 
the boy next repeating them, and Espanol third translating 
theiu to the "writer, who cautiously brought up, or rather 
brought down, the rear. I had made up my mind to this at 
first glance; for if either horse should conclude to go with a 
ricochet, sweeping all below him, I thought two or three Indians 

could be better spared 

\ than one white man. 

The narrow path 



wound this way and 




I 



=' that, to every point 
3 of the compass, re- 
~ ducing the main in- 
cline of seventy de- 
grees or more to a 
series with a slope of 
forty-five or less ; at 
times so far into the 
gorges that I lost all 
sight of the river, and 
again out to the point 



of a ridge, where I 
dared not look for 
fear of giddiness. 
From above or below 
it looks perfectly 
hopeless, but once on 
the face of the hill, 
the little marks grow 
into footpaths and 
ledges two or three feet wide; and the danger is really trifling, 
as, if one fell, he would be caught by the next offset, but a few 
feet below. Sometimes we found a square offset in the path of two 
feet or so, when the horses would cautiously drop the fore feet, 
having abundant room to catch and bring the hind feet down 
with the caution of an acrobat. Two hours brought us to the 
plain, when we heard a shout that seemed in mid air above our 



GETTING DOWX TO THE COLORADO. 



THE SECOND DESCENT. 633 

heads, and looking up saw three more Navajoes just entering on 
the descent. The sight made me shudder; they looked like 
some species of wild animal clinging on the face of the cliff. 

We reached the promised spring and found no water. The 
Navajoes insisted there was some in the gulch, so we hunted 
along it toward the mountain till we found a little moist sand 
and green, watery grass; there we fell to with our tin cups and 
butcher knives and dug several holes, which soon filled. The 
water was cool, but tasted like a mild infusion of Epsom salts. 
It made coffee, but all the sugar it could dissolve did not 
sweeten it perceptibly. 

Skirting along the foot of the cliff in a northeasterly direc- 
tion, every mile or so a section of the lower cliff, a hundred feet 
or more in hight, seemed to leave it and bend back to join the 
upper one; and down this succession of "benches" we worked 
through convenient gulches, sinking slowly toward the level of 
the river. In another gulch some three miles fiom this so-called 
spring we found a hole with moist sand, and dug again, this 
time finding good water. I was beginning to congratulate my- 
self that our labors were nearly ended, when we came upon an 
abrupt ridge, at least two thousand feet high, putting out to the 
river and completely shutting off the trail in that direction. 
Over this we must go. The path turned southeast, and Avalking 
in front of our horses we again commenced climbing. It was 
the worst job we had, and defies description. The Navajoes 
were an hour ahead of me when I reached the summit; but 
there was only one trail, and that a plain one. The opposite side 
of this ridge broke into a dozen pointed spurs. Out one, down 
a slight slope and into a groove in the rock, I found the trail 
leading along back into the hollow ; then out another ridge and 
back into the second hollosv ; then back again around all the 
windings of the two hollows, and I found myself on the sharp 
end of the first ridge again, but in a groove five hundred feet 
below the one where I had left it. Around this peak I followed 
to the southwest, then back and forward till I was dizzy, and 
more times than I could count. I came out at length upon a 
gentle slope, which brought me down to the plain at a point 
where the river was running nearly straight north. It was 



634 A SHORT PROSPECT. 

3 o'clock p. M., and I glanced back to the point of the U})per 
cliff which we had left soon after sunrise; it appeared about 
four miles distant, and six or seven thousand feet above 
me. Had I not made the trip myself, I should have been 
qualified to make oath that no human being, much less a 
horse, could ever get down or up there. We were in a sort of 
cove, the mountain shutting us in north and south, with bold 
headlands running out to the river in the shape of a U. To 
our left the river set with great violence against the base of a 
rock some sixty feet high, on which was a lookout, whence we 
could make out a house and garden on the other side, nearly 
two miles distant. We shouted and fired guns at intervals all 
afternoon, without response; but at sundown, when the wind 
was too high to hear distinctly, somebody answered. 

John's father and two other Navajoes soon arrived, having 
killed a young antelope on the way. The meat at this season 
was very tough and hard ; but if we were to stay here long it 
must serve as our subtitute for bread. 

I retired, slept, and rose again, out of humor with all Mor- 
mons, but particularly those on the op[)osite side. Here were 
six Navajoes and one white man imprisoned on a sand bar, for 
want of the boat, and they seemed to take no care about the 
situation. I climbed to the lookout before sunrise, and saw 
people moving about the house ; yelled myself hoarse, and had 
the mortification to see the only man in sight climb on a horse 
and ride off in the opposite direction. I attached two white 
handkerchiefs to a pole, upright on the peak, and came down 
disgusted. 

The spot on which we were encamped would soon starve our 
horses ; we had bacon, coflPee and antelope for two days, but no 
bread, and thanks to the pi'ejudices of Navajoes, I had the two 
remaining boxes of sardines to myself. Now sardines are a 
decided luxury with the usual accompaniments; but when one 
attempts to live on them without bread, they are a very embar- 
rassing diet. The Indians soon hunted a crevice on the other 
side of the peak below us, which enabled them to get down to 
the shore there. 



INGENIOUS BOATING. GG5 

A shout of surprise brought me to that side, and I saw the 
boys had discovered a boat cached against a rock and covered 
with brush, leaving only the bow visible. They rigged an 
arrangement to let me down with lariats, where they had 
climbed, and we all went to work on the boat. In three hours 
we had it out of the sand and brush, and into the river ; then 
the Navajoes were clamorous for me to make an immediate 
trial of crossing. But we found no oars. The boat was 
eighteen feet long, with places for four rowers ; it had two com- 
partments, and on the stern was the name, " Emma Dean." I 
concluded, correctly as it proved, that it was one of Major 
Powell's. But all our search brought to light no oars. They 
were cached so effectually that even the Navajoes could not 
find them. The river there appeared about as wide as the 
Ohio, at Cincinnati ; but running three or four times as much 
water, being very deep, swift, and full of rapids. I had no 
hope whatever of getting over under such circumstances, and 
jiiore Avith a view of satisfying the boys than anything else, 
explained to them the force of that current ; that I must have 
two oars of some kind, and that the boat must be hauled up at 
least a mile on this side. To my surprise they fell to at once, 
declaring they would haul it up in time for me to cross that day. 
Navajoes are utterly ignorant both of rowing and swimming, as 
with the exception of one or two places on the San Juan, their 
country does not. contain water enough to drown an infant. 
Hence, I judged they would never get the boat around the first 
point, which would have baffled many boatmen ; as a rocky 
headland overhung the river at a hight of sixty feet or more, 
under and against the base of which the bend threw the full 
force of the current in dangerous whirls. But I had under- 
rated their wonderful skill and activity. The boat had about 
a hundred feet of rope attached. One of the Navajoes climbed 
to the rocky point, dropped a lengthened lariat, and climbed 
down a crevice and out one point, till he could swing it clear. 
Then he began a slow oscillation, steadily increasing to the 
utmost reach of Joined lariats; but the swinging end was still 
twenty feet distant from the farthest point out to which one 



636 DANGEROUS CROSSING. 

could reach below. John then took the rope and threw it 
again and again, while the man above swung the lariat; but it 
was nearly an hour before they succeeded in lapping them 
together to connect. That difficulty was then over; another 
lariat was passed over the rock, the rope thus hauled around 
the point, and a hold obtained above. John stuck to the boat 
and shoved the bow off shore, while the others hauled it up 
opposite our camp. 

Meanwhile, the two old men had taken pieces of drift wood, 
and with their butcher knives hacked out two concerns, which 
might serve in a rude fashion for oars. They thought it strange 
that a Melicano, who professed to know how to row, should 
hesitate to cross; but I did not like to risk it. The very 
aspect of the place frightened me: the lofty walls inclosing a 
cailon six or seven thousand feet deep ; the rocky face, red and 
scarred as if blasted by angry lightnings; the bare sand plain, 
and the swift river roaring against projecting rocks, all looked 
very different from the placid Wabash and Ohio, where I 
learned rowing. A mile above, the uj)per and lower cliff 
appeared to run together, with an offset of but a rod or two, 
and there the sheer descent from the plateau to the river was 
at least six thousand feet — almost perpendicular. I fixed my 
eye on pieces of drift wood to measure the current; it was a 
little more than twenty minutes from the time they came in 
sight above till they disappeared in rapids t^o miles below. 
How could I hope to paddle across in less than twenty 
minutes? 

It was 1 P. M., and we had the boat at our camp and two 
oars. I took my coffee and sardines, chewed mescal reflectively 
for half an hour, and then proposed to the boys that we make 
our blankets into horse collars and lariats to gears, and haul the 
boat across the point. The bend above, I had noticed, Avould 
throw it offshore, and with the aid of an eddy put us halfway 
across. They objected decidedly : the horses would kick each 
other, and forty other evils to their property would result. 
Ignorant as they were of that element, they much preferred 
taking it by water. Their own lives and limbs they were ready 



A M'OMAN WITH HOPE. 637 

to risk, and at my service ; but as to their horses and other 
property — if it was all the same to me, they preferred to be ex- 
cused. They had evidently adopted the sound philosophy that 
life without a fair share of property is not worth caring for. 
Their horses, etc., said Espafiol eloquently, were their all ; did 
I expect them to go home poor? So to the river we betook 
ourselves, though to me the case looked hopeless. The bank 
was so steep that it could only be descended once in two or three 
hundred feet ; and overgrown thickly nearly all the way with 
willows and thorny bushes, often twenty feet out into the water. 
The rope could not be dragged over these ; it had to be passed 
outside of them, taking advantage of a bare point to haul in, 
rest and make a fresh start. The four young fellows stripped 
and took to the water. I, in the same condition, sat astride the 
bow and shoved offshore. They would drag the boat to a con- 
venient point, then take the rope in their mouths and pass 
themselves around the willows, holding by their hands with 
bodies in the water. A most ridiculous sight it would have 
been to one free from our solicitude : the naked barbarians 
plunging and scrambling in the river, the naked wdiite man, 
almost barbarous for the occasion, sitting astride the bow shout- 
ing in wretched Spanish and mixed Navajo, and sometimes 
plunging into the shore-mud or swift stream, where a little 
swimming had to be done. We would toil until steaming with 
sweat, and then into the river, which felt like ice-water. No- 
body ever ''catches cold" in this country, or I should have 
expected a musical case of asthma, catarrh, etc., as a result. In 
the middle of our work a woman came to the opposite bank, but 
the wind had risen to such a blast that we could not converse, 
and I could barely make out the words " old man, to-morrow." 
By night we had made three-quarters of a mile; the wind 
had fallen, and the woman appeared again; after yelling back 
and forward until I raised blood, I made out her statement. 
" The old man was gone to Kanab, and she and her boy was 
afraid to try the boat; thought we was all Injins when we hol- 
lered yesterday ; old man would be back in two or three dnvs, 
and if we had provisions for that time, we mi^ht wait." She 



638 ''the old gent." 

insisted on knowing my name and business, and to my query 
about crossing with what oars I had, answered that "certainly 
I might, but it was risky ; bad rapids three miles below, and no 
jilace to land for twenty miles after passing the bend." 

This translated to the boys, they were again clamorous for mo 
to try the passage first thing in the morning. Their reputed 
stoicism did not hold out under poor food and delay any better 
than mine. Another breakfast of rancid bacon and clear coffee 
decided me ; I would prefer a slight risk to living so two days 
longer. I got the boat into an eddy and tried to teach John 
and Espanol to row. But if a man has never had an oar in 
his hands till the age of maturity, rowing is too much of a 
science for him to learn it in one day. So I made paddles for 
them and the boy, and instructing them to paddle, in one mo- 
tion regardless of the course of the boat, shoved off. In three 
minutes we were in the current, and it really seemed to me we 
would go down to Fort Yuma before we reached the other side. 
But we did reach it, only a mile below the starting point, and 
nearly exhausted I ran the boat into a little creek. We made 
our way across the sand flat and through a dense thicket to the 
house. The woman met me at the gate, and our first conversa- 
tion was — 

" My God, stranger, did you risk your life to swtra that 
river?" 

" Not exactly that, but next thing to it." 

(Doubtfully) — "Are you a white man?" 

" Madam, I was three weeks ago, when I last saw a looking- 
glass." 

A glance at one showed me I was not very white, though 
still an American. As she informed me, they had no boat but 
one of Major Powell's, like the one I had found and crossed in. 
If we had put up the white signal Saturday, " the old gent 
would have come down at once, but he thought it was only 
Injins. Had gone Sunday with his other woman to the ranche 
near Kanab. These were the other woman's four children 
here; had five of her own, making a right smart family of nine, 
'thout the old gent ; but none of 'em big enough to risk the 



ABORIGINAL YARNS. 639 

boat; had no meat, and only ten pounds o' flour, but plenty o' 
milk, butter, eggs and cheese; would they do ? " 

I rather thought they would, and requested that about five 
pounds of each might be served up at once. She got me up a 
splendid breakfast, and let the Indians have a plentiful supply, 
and a cooking kettle. Before noon we went back with a sup- 
ply to the Indians on the other side. She gave me the ours, 
which enabled me to cross without danger, but to cross our 
horses we must wait till " Major Doyle" came home, as that was 
the name she called the "old gent" by. 

Two days passed; the "old gent" did not arrive, and our 
horses were hungry enough to chew sand-burrs and desert weed. 
I passed most of the day at the cabin, and the evening with the 
Indians, explaining the situation and hearing the old man's 
chants and aboriginal yarns. They were all of a piece : the 
Navajoes had been very rich, they were now very poor; they 
had never lived in any country but this, nor did they come 
from anywhere ; Whilohay made them here, and said if they 
tried to live anywhere else they would all die; they did nearly 
all die when they were moved down to Bosque Redondo (Fort 
Sumner) ; they were great warriors and good Indians ; the Utes 
were dogs, and the Apaches wolves and snakes; and the Zunis 
ground-hogs, and the Melicanoes never would have whipped 
the Navajoes if they had not got other Indians to help them. 
In short, his harangue sounded so much like an ordinary Mor- 
mon sermon — all self-glorification and disparagement of every- 
body else — that I got tired and dropped to sleep just as he was 
telling how great a warrior his father was, and how many horses 
he once took from the Nach kyh (Mexican towns). 

As Espanol rendered all this into voluminous Spanish, with 
many cross-questionings on my part and repetitions on his, to 
make sure I had the correct meaning, the conversation would 
have had its charms to the comparative philologist. Sitting in 
the summer night by our camp fire on the great river, named 
by the Spaniard three centuries ago, its current roaring against 
the rocks below us, part of the romance of the sixteenth century 
seemed to return. 



640 COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY. 

It is scarcely possible to conceive of a greater contrast be- 
tween any two languages spoken by man, than that between 
the Navajo and Spanish. The one the oldest of living langua- 
ges, and first heir to the Latin, no one knows how much 
older; soft, smooth, flowing, musical and rich in expressive 
inflections ; the result of three thousand years of Roman, Moorish 
and Gothic cultivation ; with the wonderful and stately march 
of the Latin sentence, the soft lisp of the Moor and sonorous 
gravity of the Goth : the other, youngest born in the family of 
languages, with roots striking only in the shallow soil of hard 
and primitive dialects, probably not a thousand years old as 
a separate tongue, without cultivation, without letters, with no 
abstract expressions, and names only for the material and tan- 
gible, a harsh alliance of the nasal and guttural, the speech of 
barbarous mountaineers. Yet here they are found on the same 
soil, struggling for the mastery; the Spanish an enduring monu- 
ment to the energy and bravery of the Castilians of the six- 
teenth century, who overran and subdued more than half of 
the New World. Every time a Navajo says agua instead of 
toll, he bears unwitting and involuntary tribute to the hardy 
vigor and bold intellect of that wonderful race, who carried 
their arms and language, and a fair share of their arts, to the 
most secluded portions of this country. 

A novel fact to me is, that an Indian will "sunburn" as 
much or even more than a white man, taking on very notice- 
able additions to his color in four or five days. John, my spe- 
cial guide, grew considerably darker than when we started ; and 
those who live indoors about the Agency seem no more than 
half as dark as the hunters and wanderers. In fact, the more I 
get acquainted with Indians, the more I am convinced that 
many of our generally received notions about them are quite 
erroneous, and continue to be repeated and believed only because 
they are not authoritatively contradicted. For instance, it is a 
great mistake to suppose they can travel so long without eating. 
They do eat, three or fi)ur times a day, even on these deserts; 
but of various roots and plants which a white man would not 
venture to touch. They know the country, and know what 



INDIAN ENDURANCE. 641 

roots are nourishing and what poisonous. In many pkiccs over 
this section between the two Coloradoes grows a species of 
milky weed, M'itii tough, stringy root, in taste resembling the 
" sweet hickory " the boys used to pull and chew, along the 
Wabash. The Navajoes cook this in boiled milk, or with bacon 
when at home, and on journeys without supplies take it raw. 
It contains, of course, very little nourishment, and on such jour- 
neys they get " poor as snakes ; " but it will keep soul and body 
together, give the stomach something to do and prevent that 
deadly faintness which results from complete fasting. With no 
food whatever, I think an able-bodied white man would out- 
last an Indian. They endure thirst, though, better than we do. 
And the reason is obvious : their food contains no salt, their 
bi'ead no chemicals, they seldom have intoxicating liquors, and 
use little tobacco. With unsalted bread, very little bacon, and 
coffee night and morning, I soon found I could go half a day 
or a day without water with no great inconvenience. Nor do 
they eat large quantities at once. With three regular meals a 
day none of our party ate as much as myself. But after long 
fasting they seem to lack, from what T hear, the judgment to 
restrain hunger ; but the result is quite as bad to them as to 
whites. This was one cause of the great mortality among the 
Navajoes when captured by General Carleton. They had been 
a purely pastoral people, by far the wealthiest in the mountains, 
and enjoyed considerable abundance. Ganado Mucho alone had 
a herd of forty thousand sheep and goats, all of which were 
bayoneted by the soldiers in one valley, and the Navajoes sur- 
rendered only when compelled by famine. In this condition 
thev were taken to the Bosque Redondo, almost without food on 
the wav, and there received large rations. One man informed 
me that he had nine Navajoes put in his charge who had traveled 
from Cafion de Chelley to Santa Fe with only a pint of corn to 
each. He issued them one afternoon ten days' rations. Next 
morning five of the nine were dead. During the war the Utes 
cut down some twenty thousand peach trees in Peach Tree 
Caiion. The Navajoes still suffer the results of the policy then 
pursued, as their herds are not recruited. It is a pity this policy 
41 



642 SAVAGE QUARANTINE. 

^•as necessary, as it has produced a hatred between the tribes 
"wiiich many years will not assuage. Only a short time before, a 
Navajo was killed in the Zuni village, in revenge, as alleged, for 
the murder of two Zunis. During the war some fifty Navajo 
captives were intrusted for safe keeping to the Zunis, who co7'- 
ralled them in their p/asa for a general feed, and then fell upon 
and killed every one of them. 

The origin of the venereal poison is a subject much discussed 
by the Indians. Most of them assert that they had none of it 
till the Melicanoes came, but the old men admitted that cases 
were introduced, many years ago, from Mexico. The Coyotero, 
White Mountain and Mogollon Apaches have never had a case 
of it. If one of their women offend with a white man, her 
nose and ears are cut off and she is made a slave. The Moquis 
appeared quite ignorant of the existence of such a disease. The 
Tabeqnache Utes have a woman publicly whipped for infidelity 
with whites. If she be found diseased, she is forthwith lanced 
and her body burned. This savage quarantine has effectually 
preserved the tribe, and I supposed at first it was for that pur- 
pose ; but our old men asserted that it is rather an act of mercy 
to the woman. The ]\Iohaves are perishing rapidly from this 
scourge. The Navajoes claim that there is now very little of it 
among them, and that they treat most cases successfully. 

To sum up, finally, on my Navajo friends : I am decidedly of 
the opinion that they can be civilized, and that the present 
policy of the Administration has been, and will be, a perfect 
success as applied to them. Their career, I think, will bo 
somewhat like that of the Cherokees, except that they will be- 
come cultivators and manufacturers in much shorter time. 
The great mistake, I think, in treating on Indian character is 
this: Writers and statesmen ascribe certain traits to Indians with- 
out any distinction, classing all in one category ; while the simple 
fact is, there is a greater difference between different tribes than 
between the native Caucasian of Boston and the native Cau- 
casian of Hindoostan. The Navajo is no more like the Pi-Ede 
or Pi-Ute than the average American is like the Hindoo. 
There are tribes evidently progressive, others stationary, still 



MORMONISM AGAIX. 643 

others retrogitullng. There are many incai)ablc of the sliglitcst 
advance, and awaiting only a slow extinction. 

On the other side we talked at random, without need of an 
interpreter. Mrs. Doyle, as the lady called herself, was a 
thoroug-h frontier woman, and informed me that "Our old crent 
had had eighteen wives. Two left him, one went to the States, 
and another to Montana, and when McKean got up such a 
bobbery, he divided his property among them that were living, 
and only regarded her and Rachel, the one up at the ranche, 
toward Kanab. Old gent had had fifty- two children, most of 
'em living; had been through New INfexico, and all that coun- 
try, with the Mormon battalion, and had been a big man in 
the Church, but was now here on a mission, tending to this 
ferry. The Mormons will establish a fine ferry here and a 
good road, as they intent! to settle all the good country on the 
other side, and are now settling into Arizona as fast as they can. 
Will settle Potato Valley first, theu down in the White and 
San Francisco Mountains," etc. 

Her own history was both sad and interesting. She was 
born in Brighton, England, and reared in London. Her folks 
were well-to-do English, and signs of early education and 
refinement showed plainly through the rough coating of a fion- 
tier and Mormon life. She had embraced Mormonism at the 
age of twenty, and came at once to Utah — sixteen years before 
— in the first hand-cart company. They got through with 
little suffering. It was the company after that suffered so. 
She " had gone in second " to Major Doyle, by express request 
of Brigham Young. They had pioneered all the new towns 
south. Had a fine place in Harmony, and sold it for $4000, 
when ordered here on a mission. She was living here, a hundred 
miles from the nearest settlement, in the extreme of hardship, 
and her folks begging her to come to them. And now, at the 
end of all these sacrifices, a growing skepticism was evident in 
her talk. It was plain that she doubted seriously whether all 
this had not been vain — worse than useless. She firmly 
believed in polygamy, she said, when she came a girl from 
England, but not now; there was so much evil in it that could 
not be from God. 



644 THE INDIANS LEAVE. 

What must be the agony of a conscientious soul which lias 
endured and suffered everything for a faith — a life-time of 
sacrifice for an idea — when convinced at last that the idea is a 
snare, the faith a delusion ? AVhat can result but the blackest 
skepticism, and utter disbelief in the existence of true religion 
on earth? Of all losses, property, honor, friends, opportunities, 
■what one leaves the utter mental blackness and void, the com- 
j)lete despair and irreparable loss of the devotee who has lost 
his godf What wonder that recusant Mormons are tiie worst 
infidels in the world, utterly unapproachable on the subject of 
religion ? 

By the fourth day our horses presented fine subjects for the 
study of anatomy, and the patience of the Indians gave out. 
They came in a body to request a nelsoass — my certificate to 
the Agent at Defiance that they had. seen me safe across the 
Colorado. This I furnished, and all the cheese and meat Mrs. 
Doyle could spare ; and at 3 P. M., they began the toilsome 
journey up the cliffs. I watched them out of sight with 
regret; for the simple aborigines had been more company for 
me than I could have imagined possible. In three hours after 
their departure, Major Doyle returned, and next morning we 
crossed my horse without difficulty. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

FIVE HUNDRED MILES OF MORMONS. 

An astonishing revelation — " Major Doyle " becomes John D. Lee, of Mountain 
Meadow notoriety — He relates his version of that affair — Comments — Why 
verdict " Guilty" — Oft' for the settlements — Jacob's Pool — Long, dry ride — 
— The Pi-Utes — Into Kanab — Jacob Hamlin — Major Powell's party — Pipe 
Springs — Gould's Ranche — Virgen City — Toquerville — Kanawa— Into the 
Great Basin — Beaver— The "Jerky" — An old comrade — Fillmore — " Cutting 
oft"" — Staging — An unconscious joke — Arrival at Salt Lake City — Surprise of 
my friends. 

WAS out of the wilderness and across the river; but 
still a hundred miles from the nearest settlement, and 
five hundred miles from Salt Lake City. But a surprise 
of no ordinary kind was in store for me. Having been 
four days at " Major Doyle's," his wife told me so much 
of his travels and labors for the Church, that I wondered at 
never having heard of him in the history of Utah. At supper, 
on the 3d instant, I casually inquired if he knew of such a man 
in this vicinity as John D. Lee, for the agent had informed me 
I must cross at Lee's Ferry. " That," he replied, " is what they 
sometimes call me." "What!" I exclaimed, "I thought your 
name was Doyle." " So it is," said he, " John Doyle Lee." 

I almost jumped out of my chair with astonishment, not 
unmixed with a feeling of confusion. Here I was the guest of, 
and in social intercourse with, the most notorious of all notorious 
Mormons — the man most hated, shunned and despised by Gen- 
tiles — John D. Lee, the reputed planner and leader in the 
Mountain Meadow massacre ! My surprise was too sudden to be 
concealed, and I blundered out: "I have often heard of you." 
" I suppose so, and heard nothing that was good, I reckon," was 
the reply, with some bitterness of tone : " Yes, I told my wives 

645 



GIO MOUNTAIN MEADOW MASSACRE. 

to call me Doyle to strangers; they've been kicking up such a 
muss about polygamy, McKean and them, and I'm a man that's 
had eighteen wives; but now the Supreme Court has decided 
that polygamy's part of a man's religion, and the law's got 
r.otliin' to do with it; it don't make no difference, I reckon." 

Of course this was only a subterfuge, but I could not have 
ventured to recur to the real reason of his being hidden, as it 
were in this wild place, if he had not approached the subject 
himself soon after. Then I hinted as delicately as possible, that 
if it were not disagreeable to him, I should like to hear "the 
true account of that affair which had been the cause of his name 
being so prominent." It had grown dark, meanwhile, and this 
gave him, I thought more freedom in his talk. (It is to be 
jioted that he did not know my name or business.) Clearing his 
throat nervously, he began, with many short stops and 
repetitions: 

" Well, suppose you mean that — well, that Mountain Med- 
der affair? Well, I'll tell you what is the exact truth of it, as 
God is my Judge, and the why I am out here like an outlaw — 
but I'm a goin' to die like a man, and not be choked like a dog 
— and why ray name's j)ublished all over as the vilest man in 
Utah, on account of what others did — but I never will betray 
my brethren, no, never — which it is told for a sworn fact that 
I violated two g^irls as they were kneeling and begging to mo 
for life ; but as God is my Judge, and I expect to stand before 
Him, it is all an infernal lie." 

He ran off this and much more of the sort with great volu- 
bility ;theu seemed to grow more calm, and went on : 

" Now, sir, I'll give you the account exactly as it stood, 
though for years I've rested under the most infamous c'narges 
ever cooked up on a man. I've had to move from point to 
point, and lost my property, when I might have cleared it uj) 
any time by just saying who was who. I could have proved 
that I was not there, but not without bringing in other men to 
criminate them. But I wouldn't do it. They had trusted in 
me, and their motives were good at the start, bad as the thing 
turned out. 




647 



648 PROFANE AND WICKED EMIGRANTS. 

" But about the emigrants. They was the worst set that ever 
crossed the Plains, and they made it so as to get here just when 
we was at war. Old Buchanan had sent his army to destroy us, 
and we had made up our minds that they should not find any 
spoil. We had been making preparations for two years, drying 
wheat and caching it in the mountains; and intended, when 
worst come to worst, to burn and destroy everything, and take 
to the mountains and fight it out guerilla style. And I tell you 
this people was all hot and enthusiastic, and just at that time 
these emigrants came. 

" Now they acted more like devils than men ; and just to give 
you an idea what a hard set they was : when Dr. Forney 
gathered up the children two years after — fifteen, I believe, 
they was — and sent word back to their relatives, they sent 
word that they didn't M'ant 'em, and wouldn't have anything to 
do with 'em. And that old Dr. Forney treated the children 
like dogs, haramerin' 'em around with his big cane. 

" The company had quarreled and separated east of the moun- 
tains, but it was the biggest half that come first. The}' come 
south o' Salt Lake City just as all the men was going out to the 
war, and lots of women and children lonely. Their conduct 
was scandalous. They swore and boasted openly that they 
helped shoot the guts out of Joe Smith and Hyrum Smith, at 
Carthage, and that Buchanan's whole army was coming right 
behind them, and would kill every G — d d — n Mormon iu 

Utah, and make the women and children slaves and 

They had two bulls, which they called one ' Heber' and the 
other * Brigham,' and whipped 'em thro' every town, yelling 
and singing, blackguarding and blaspheming oaths that would 
have made your hair stand on end. At Spanish Fork — it can 
be proved — one of 'em stood on his wagon tongue, and swung 
a pistol, and swore that he helped kill old Joe Smith and was 
ready for old Brigham Young, and all sung a blackguard song, 
'O, we've got the ropes and we'll hang old Brigham before the 
snow flies,' and all such stuff. Well, it was mighty hard to 
bear, and when they got to where the Pahvant Indians was 
they shot one of them dead and cri^^pled another. But the 



INDIANS ADVISED TO PUNISH THEM. G49 

worst's a comin'. At Corn Creek, just this side o' Fillmore, 
they poisoned a spring, and the flesh of an ox that died there, 
they poisoned that — anyhow it was poisoned, may Le at the 
spring — and they give it to the Indians, and some few of them 
died. Then the widow Tomlinson, just this side, had an ox 
poisoned that died ; and she thought to save the hide and taller, 
and renderin' it up the poison got in her face, and it swelled up 
and she died. And her son come near dyin', too. This, you 
know, roused everybody. They come on down the road, and 
witli their big Missouri whips would snap off the heads of 
chickens and throw 'em into their wagons ; and at the next 
town there was the widow Evans come out and said, * Don't 
kill my chickens, gentlemen ; I'm a poor woman.' And the 

man yelled, 'Shut up, you G — d d — n Mormon , or I'll 

shoot you.' Then her sons and all her folks got out and swore 
they'd have revenge on the whole outfit. 

" But the Indians had gathered and was followin' 'em close, 
and at Mountain Meadow overtook 'em. Then came the coun- 
cil with us, and all asked, 'What shall we do?' I was sent 
for and said, ' Persuade the Indians away ;' but I was overruled, 
and the council said, ' Let the Indians punish them.' • 

" They had gathered from every direction ; all the bands were 
out for hundreds of miles, and they planned it to crawl down 
a deep, narrow ravine, and get in close, then make a sudden 
rush altogether. But some men was up about the fire, and the 
dogs kept up such a barking that they knew Indians were 
about, and one fool Indian off on the peak fired his gun and 
killed one emigrant, and give the alarm. This spoilt their 
plan, but all in reach fired and killed, well, five or six men ; 
but the Indians did not make a charge. Then a sort of regular 
siege begun, and lasted several days. The fellows inside done 
■well — the best they could have done. They got the wagons 
corralled, and dug rifle-pits. The Indians couldn't get any 
more of them, but shot their stock, killed all their cattle and 
nearly all their horses. I believe it was after three or four 
days that I went to the Indians and tried to persuade them. 
Says I, * You've certainly killed as many of them as died of 



G50 THE MASSACEE. 

your men, and you've harassed them a good deal, killed their 
stock and punished them enough — now let them go.' But they 
said these white men were all bad and they would kill all. 
Jacob Hamlin, the agent, you know, was away from home then, 
and I hadn't much control over the Indians. We was weak 
then in that section to what we are now, and did not really have 
the upper hand of the Indians ; and may be, if we interfered 
with 'em, it would cause trouble with us. I heard women 
inside begging and praying, and saying that if the Mormons 
knew how they Mere situated they would come and help, no 
matter if some had treated 'em badly. And they begged some 
of the fellows to break out and go and get help. Then I run 
a big risk to get inside the corral. It was pitch dark, and I 
could see the line of fire from the guns, and the balls whistled 
all about me. One cut my shirt in front, and another my 
sleeve, and I could not get through. But I went back, and 
was pretty near getting the Indians all right, and would have 
succeeded fully, but then come the thing that spoiled all. 

'* Three of tiie emigrants had broken out of the corral and 
gone back for help ; and next day met some of our boys at a 
sj)ring. Well, I don't excuse our men — they were enthusiastic, 
you know, but their motives were good. They knew these 
emigrants at once; one of them Nvas the man that insulted 
widow Evans, another the one that swung his pistol and talked 
so at Spanish Fork. The boys fell on them at sight, shot one 
dead and wounded another. But the two of them got back to 
the company. 

" Then came another council, and all our men said : ' W^e 
can't let 'em go now; the boys has killed some, and it won't do 
to let one get through alive, or here they'll come back on us 
with big reinforcements.' And, to be sure, why should we risk 
anything, and may be have a fuss with the Indians, to save 
])eople who done nothing but abuse us? But I still said, 'Let 
'em go; they've been punished enough.' 

"I never will mention any names, or betray my brethren. 
Those men were God-fearing men. Their motives were pure. 
They knelt down and prayed to be guided in council. But 



INDIAN BARBAKITY. 6'A 

they was full of zeal. Their zeal was greater than their know- 
ledge. 

'* I went once more to the Indians, and begged them to kill 
only the men. They said they would kill every one: then I 
told them I would buy all the children, so all the children was 
saved. There was not over fifteen white men actually went in 
with the Indians, and I don't believe a single emigrant was 
actually killed by a white man. 

' "An express had been sent to Brigham Young at first to 
know what to do, and it is a pity it didn't get back ; for those 
enthusiastic men tcill obey counsel. The President sent back 
orders, and told the man to ride night and day, by all means to 
let the emigrants go on; to call off the Indians, and for no 
Mormons to molest them. But the thing was all over before 
the express got back to Provo. There was about eighty fighting 
men that was killed. I don't know how many women, though 
not many. All the children was saved. The little boy that 
lived with us cried all night when he left us, and said he'd 
come back to us as soon as he got old enough. Old Forney, 
when become for 'em, got all in his tent and would not let 'era 
visit or say good-by to anybody. One run away and hid under 
the floor of the house, and Forney dragged him out and beat 
him like a dog with his cane. They say he murdered the baby 
on the plains, because it was sickly and troublesome. 

" It is told around for a fact that T could tell great confes- 
sions, and bring in Brigham Young and the Heads of the Church. 
But if I was to make forty confessions, I could not bring in 
Brigham Young. His counsel was: 'By all means let them 
go; don't hurt a hair of their heads.'" 

Mr. Lee continued with a full account of General Carleton's 
visit, and Judge Cradlebaugh's inquiry into the matter, as well 
as his meeting and conversation with Dr. Forney; all interest- 
ing, but too long for repetition. We had talked until midnight, 
when we turned in together upon the straw near the house. 

Such is Lee's account of the dreadful occurrence at Mountain 
Meadow. The reader will no doubt perceive the inconsistencies 
in it. It is, inherently, most improbable that a people of the 



652 WHO PLANNED THE MASSACEE ? 

wealth and social standing that company is known to have 
been, would have acted in the manner described ; and particu- 
larly in the enemy's country, as Utah then was. It is too well 
proven, also, that all the Pahvants in Utaii could never have 
captured eighty white men without help. But it appears that 
in all conscience he has confessed enough. That there were 
some Mormons in it, and that all the community consented to 
it, is an admitted fact. And what fearful hints as to the dan- 
gerous character of the Mormon religion do these words of Lee's 

give: "I will never betray my brethren I do not judge 

them. They were God-fearing men. Their motives were pure. 
They knelt and prayed to be guided in council !" 

Kneel and pray to the Mormon God, and then join the 
Indians to murder Gentiles ! " Those enthusiastic men loill 
obey council." If Brigham said, '* Let them go," it siiould 
have been done. But if he had said in any case, ^' Kill all," 
the conclusion is irresistible that the killing would have fol- 
lowed. Are a people fit for a State Government where one 
man, without official position, claims to hold the keys of life 
and death, and has his claim recognized? 

Another confession : Like the Lee family, I had dropped my 
last name and taken my second, and traveled to the central i)art 
of Utah as "Mr. Hanson." I did not exactly know what })re- 
judices some of these people might have against my other name, 
and it is as well to be on the safe side. 

The evidence in the Mountain Meadow case is now devel- 
oped, and the whole affair is plain. That Major John D. Lee, 
Colonel J. Dame, Bishop Isaac C. Haight and the under 
officers, both military and ecclesiastical, ordered out the militia, 
surrounded the emigrants, induced them to surrender and then 
allowed the Indians to massacre them, is as plainly proven as 
any case can be by human testimony. It is well known, too, 
that they came together " under a regular military call from the 
superior officers;" and the few who refused state that they did 
so knowing they subjected themselves to punishment for mutiny. 
It is also proved that John D. Lee gave a full report of the 
matter to Brigham Young, Governor and Superintendent of In- 



CLIMATE. G5'j 

dlan Affairs, in the house of Apostle E. T. Benson in Salt 
Luke City.* 

If John D. Lee has committed no crime, why is he hiding in 
a desert, a hundred miles out of the jurisdiction of Utah Courts, 
where he can take horse and boat any minute and in three hours 
be among wild Indians in alliance with the Mormons f Is it 
because his high-toned honor forbids him to "bear witness 
against his brethren ?" Bosh! 

At sunrise of Independence Day I bade the Lees good-byO) 
and struck southwest and down the Colorado, to get to the 
plateau and trail leading to Kanab. At Lees, in the mouth of 
Pahreah Caiion, is the only spot on the Colorado, for three 
hundred miles, where there is open land enough to make a farm 
or support a ferry. He has a rich flat, shut in above and below 
by precipitous cliffs of red sandstone. The climate is singularly 
mild and pleasant. The summers are not hot, except when a 
southeast wind blows the air back into the canon ; then it be- 
comes stagnant and sultry. The winters are so warm that 
wheat can be sown at any time within the three months, accord- 
ing to the amount of rain. The Mormons have taken measures 
to construct a wagon road to the ferry, and for cutting out a 
rock way on the other side, to enable them to get up to the 
main plateau of northern Arizona. They informed me that a 
large body of Mormons would be "called on a mission" soon 
to settle the first convenient valley on the other side, from which 
they will extend rapidly down to the great Sinoita (Sin-o-ee-ta) 
Valley, northwest of Prescott, which has since been done. I 
am told by Arizona men that that valley has been settled three 
times by Americans and Mexicans, each time driven out by the 
Apaches; and that they will be delighted to have the jSIormons 
take possession of it. It is reported as ample for the support 
of fifty thousand people. The grand cafion of the Colorado 
may be said to commence some five miles below Mr. Lee's, but 
between the river and the main line of the Wasatch Mountains 
extends a plateau, widening toward the west, rich in pasture 

* See Stenhouse's " Rockr Mountain Saints," chapter xliii. 



654 PERILOUS DESCENT OF THE RAPIDS. 

and with two or three spots of cultivable land. Some three 
weeks before three miners had constructed a raft above Lee's 
place, and attempted to ruu down the river, examining the bars 
as tliey went. The raft was dashed to pieces in the rapids three 
miles below where I made my perilous crossing, and the men 
narrowly escaped with their lives. They were so near the 
northern shore that the first eddy enabled them to reach it. 
Here they found themselves under an apparently inaccessible 
cliff. They dived and brought up their tools, and from drift 
wood and such portions of the raft as they could save, con- 
structed ladders, and climbing with them from cliff to cliff, got 
back to Lee's after three days' starvation. Around the point 
of the mountain, above the cliff they climbed, a trail leads up 
to the plateau, which I traveled. I hurried through the fifteen 
miles to the first gulch containing water and grass, where I 
rested till 2 p. M. Thence over another barren mesa twenty 
miles brought me to Jacob's Pool, where the pasture lands be- 
gin. The pool is a clear, cold s[)ring, at the head of a gulch, 
sending out a stream the size of one's wrist, which runs two or 
three hundred yards down the plain before it disappears. The 
largest mountain streams in this section never run more than a 
mile or two on to the plain. In some places a channel can be 
traced nearly to the Colorado. The Wasatch here has an aver- 
age elevation of five thousand feet above this plateau ; from the 
mountains the country is tolerably level out to the river, which 
rnns in another narrow gorge some four thousand feet deej>. 
Tiiere are three places in a hundred miles where horses and 
footmen can get down through side gulches to the river. 

John D. Lee has pre-empted the pool, and has his wife 
Rachel living there in a sort of brush tent, making butter and 
cheese from a herd of twenty cows. She and her son and 
daughter of sixteen and eighteen years were the sole inhabitants, 
no neighbors within less than forty miles either way. Lee's 
other wives are scattered about on ranches farther north ; four 
at Mangrum's settlement and two others at Harmony. One 
left him and lives at Beaver; another went to Montana with a 
Gentile, and still another is in the States, " living fancy, I 



JACOB S TOOL. 



655 



reckon/' said the wife at the river, who showed ine her portrait 
and gave me all this information, as if it were a matter of ordi- 
nary news. I found tliis wife at the Pool like the one at the 
river, favorable to the Gentiles and a disbeliever in polygamy. 
There was no room in the tent, and she gave me a straw tide 
out doors, which was luxury enough for one who had had only 
a blanket between him and the around for weeks. 

The occasion was suggestive. As I looked around on tiie 
willow walls of the 
brush-covered icick- 
iup, the hot sun 
shining in through 
on the paper as I 
attempted to write; 
marked the general 
out-door air of pov- 
erty and misery, and 
took my scanty 
meals of milk and 
cheese, with an al- 
lowance of one bis- 
cuit, I could but say 
to myself: This is 
one of the effects of 
polygamy. Those 
who are still dis- 
posed to apologize 
for INI o r m o n i s m 
should have seen 
this sight. Men 
from Washington* 
who make a three 
days' visit to Salt 

Lake City, see about as much of polygamy as a visitor in 
the olden time to one of the best families of Louisville saw 
of African slr.very. Here is a man with eleven wives, scat- 
tered about on ranches like so many cattle. Let the man 




AT JACOB'S POOL. 



656 BVUJi OF POLYGAMY. 

be ever so good and kind, ten of these women must be living as 
Avidows all the time, and their children as orphans. One of the 
strongest and most often rejieated arguments of the Mormons is, 
that polygamy is much less of an evil than the Gentile prosti- 
tution. I flatly confess that I don't think so. Prostitution 
stops witli the one victim, polygamy rears a generation to suffer 
its evils; prostitution aifects only the guilty; the direst woes of 
polygamy fall on the innocent — the women and children ; the 
former takes one in a hundred, the latter degrades the whole 
sex ; the former has coexisted, and continues, with the highest 
civilization in the most advanced nations, while the latter is 
invariably the practice of barbarians and retrograde races. Of 
the two evils, bad as the other is, polygamy is by far the worst. 
From Jacob's Pool, on the afternoon of the 5th, I rode eigh- 
teen miles nearly straight west to the first water, and camped 
for the night in the midst of splendid pasture. I was off as 
soon as there was I'ght enough to travel, as it was thirty miles 
to Navajo Wells, the next place where water could be had. 
This is the original Navajo trail from New Mexico to the set- 
tlements on Virgen Piver. A few miles from the spring I 
commenced the ascent of the "Buckskin," a low range of par- 
tially wooded hills, putting out across the plateau nearly to the 
Colorado. All over this I found good blue grass, which is very 
rare everywhere in the Pocky Mountains. The grass on the 
plains here consists of two species of bunch grass, the common 
yellow and the white-topped varieties. The last is by far the 
richest, the top containing a small black seed which, with its 
husk, is considered as nutritious as grain. But neither of these 
grasses form a sod or sward, or give more than a faint tinge of 
green to the landscape. My general direction for the day was 
northwest, working toward the Utah line, though the road at 
times wound about to every point. West of the "Buckskin" 
was a singular flood plain some six miles wide, with rich soil 
but no moisture, and nearly destitute of grass. T had traveled 
till 3 P. M., looking closely for Navajo Wells for the last few 
miles, when I emerged from a rocky ridge scantily clothed with 
piiions upon another flood plain, and was at once aware that I 



OBJECTIONABLE WATER. 



657 



had missed the wells. I had seen no signs of water and no trail 
leading to any. From the last spring to Kanab was forty-five 
miles, a rather long stage for my horse without water ; but there 
seemed no other chance, and I hurried him on, I had made 
two miles or more from the ridge when I heard a sliout, and 
looking back, saw a miserable looking Piute coming with his 
horse at full gallop after me. I shouted toh, agua, water, in the 
three languages used in Arizona, but he failed to comprehend 
either. By panto- 
mime I gave him to 
understand that my 
horse had had no 
water since sunrise. 
He exclaimed, "j)ah 
to wickiup," and 
whirling his horse, 
directed me to fol- 
low. Two miles 
back, and half a mile 
from my trail, was 
the water hole, and 
by it the brush camp 
of his tribe, a horri- 
bly filthy and repul- 
sive gang of some 
forty savages. A 
barrel sunk in a low 
place in the sand 
formed the spring, 
from which there 
was no stream. The 

water was lukewarm, green, slimy, and full of vile pollywogs. 
The chief brought an old copper kettle, which my horse 
emptied three times. I indulged in a half pint, after straining 
it through a handkerchief. For this courtesy, I divided my 
stock of meat and cheese with the chief, who suddenly became 
rather communicative, preferred a request for tobacco, and 
42 




HAPPY FAMILY "— UTES. 



658 DISPUTING OX MORMONISM. 

asked in broken English and signs how many days I had been 
in coming from the Naviijo wickinps? They liad at first sight 
recognized my hiriat, moccasins, and beaded scarf and pouch as 
Navajo work. p]ach tribe in the mountains knows the Mork 
of every other tribe, even M'hen a thousand miles distant. The 
Indians native to this region are of three tribes, known as the 
Pi-Utes, the Pi-Edes and the Lee-Biches, and are the very 
lowest of tiie race. In summer they fare sumptuously on 
pinon nuts, roots, grass seeds and white sage; but in winter 
thcv are reduced to bugs, lizards, grubs and ground mice, occa- 
sionally assisted by donations from the settlements, or the flesh 
of such iSIormon stock as die of disease. They are totally 
devoid of skill in any respect, and when furnished with boards 
can not construct a shelter from the rain. 

Eight miles farther, I camped for the night; was off, by 
reason of the cold, an hoar before daylight, and rode into 
Kanab just as the first rays of^ sunshine were streaming over 
the rugged gaps of the eastern mountains. Kanab sits back in 
a beautiful cove in the mountains, something like a crescent in 
shape, the mountain's ])caks east and west of the town putting 
out southward to the Arizona line. All the land within the 
cove appears rich, and the town site is irrigated from a con- 
siderable creek running out of a narrow gulch. By direction 
of the first person met, I went to Jacob Hamlin's house, where 
I had two days' rest. I was most fortunate in my selection. 
Three of jNIajor Powell's men were here, waiting for his arrivab 
from Salt Lake City. Here, also, I found Mr. and ]\Irs. 
Thomson, of Mnjor Powell's party ; so altogether we had a 
very delightful little Gentile society in this Mormon stronghold. 
Hamlin, who is a Church Agent of Indian Affairs, struck it on 
the subject of Mormonism the first meal ; but as I was once 
more in the land of beef and biscuit, hot coffee and other 
luxuries, I could stand up to any amount of argument. AVe 
had it hot fi)r two days, but parted friends. Kanab is quite 
new, and has but two hundred inhabitants. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Thomson, I am under many obligations, not only for writing 
conveniences, but for many hours of social enjoyment ; and as 



PIPE SPRINGS. 659 

to the Powell party generally, I consider my meeting them 
here a rare piece of good fortune. 

The road from Kanab to Salt Lake City is a most incon- 
venient series of roundabouts, running to every point of the 
compass to make a general course around two sides of a very 
elongated trianijle. From Kanab there is a trail straiojht north 
over the mountains, which would bring one to the head of 
Sevier River, a route one hundred miles shorter than my route; 
but it was unsafe from hostile Utes. 

Late, afternoon of July 8th, I rode twenty miles southwest 
to Pipe Springs — nine miles over the border into Arizona. 
The two stone houses at that place were built nine years before, 
as a sort of fort and residence ; but abandoned soon after, on 
account of Indian troubles, and only lately re-occupied by 
Bishop Windsor and one of his families. I reached the place 
after dark, and found the Bishop a good landlord, and chatty, 
agreeable companion. The spring from which the place takes 
its name sends down a large stream of cold, clear water, which 
the Bishop leads in stone troughs through his houses, using one 
of them for a cheese factory. He milks eighty cows, and makes 
the business a splendid success. All this section is rich in pas- 
ture, but has so little arable land that most of the few inhabit- 
ants have to import their flour, paying for it in butter and 
cheese. Even with this large stream, the Bishop can cultivate 
but fifteen acres, the porous, sandy soil requiring five times as 
much irrigation as the land around Salt Lake City. The j)]ace 
is just outside the rim of the Great Basin, and the countiy 
about of the same level as that within. From the foot of the 
mountain range along which we travel, the surface slopes a very 
little toward the Colorado, but near that river rises again to a 
hijjht above that along- the road. 

The road from Pipe Springs was so sandy that I did not 
reach the next ranche and water — twenty-five miles — till 4 
P. M., and after supper made nine miles farther by night, 
camping in a low, rich valley between two wooded hills. 
Thence I reached Gould's ranche, ten miles, in time for a 9 
o'clock breakfast, and another hot argument on Mormon poli- 



660 



VIRGEN CITY. 




KANARRA — SOUTIIERX UTAH. 



tics. Just then the Mormon mind was set on jrettino; Utah 
adnaitted as a State, and the Gentiles, of course, Avere ojiposed 
to it, knowing well tliat most of them would have to emigrate 
as soon as the whole judicial and executive power passed into 
Mormon hands. Everywhere through the southern settlements 
this was the great subject of discussion whenever a stray Gen- 
tile wandered into town. It may be bad policy to discuss the 
matter with them, but I can't keep still when an argument is 
shoved at me. 

From Gould's I took, by mistake, a right hand road, which 
led rae ten miles north into the mountains, or rather, up a 
broad valley, to Virgen City. This was the first okl and 
(!Stal)lished Mormon town I reached, and the prospect was most 
<lelightful. There is little or no winter, and fruit of every 
kind grows in great perfection. The neat white efe^ttr-houses 
were almost hidden in forests of peach, fig and apple trees, and 
the line vinevards rivaled the best in California. " Dixie 
wine," as the Mormons call it, is rather strong and pungent; 



A NAVAJO WIFE DESIRABLE. 661 

it is simply fermented grape juice, and is quite inferior to other 
'^ native wines." I think, however, this is only the result of 
inexperience, and that in time this section will produce superior 
wines. The trees were almost breaking beneath the weight of 
peaches, already large as ri})e ones in the States; and the size 
reported to me, of their ripe peaches, seems almost fabulous. 
All that part of Mormondom south of the rim of the Great 
Basin is called Dixie, and extends some distance into Arizona, 
producing in most settlements cotton, wine and figs. It has 
been erected into a separate diocese, with semi-annual confer- 
ences at St. George. 

I found that I was everywhere taken for an Indian, at first 
sight, on account of my buckskin suit and Navajo scarf and 
moccasins. Marriage with Indian women is a strong point in 
the religion of these southern Mormons, and they were de- 
lighted with my descriptions of the grace, beauty and general 
desirableness of Navajo girls. They fully expect to form a 
close alliance and lasting friendship with that people by means 
of intermarriage, and no doubt the scheme is quite practicable and 
the quickest way to gain the desired result. A few Mormons 
have taken Ute women, but that tribe has few that are desirable. 
The Lemhi colony in Idaho were expressly instructed to get as 
many Indian wives as possible. It is a little odd that Brig- 
ham Young should give such " counsel " when the " Book of 
Mormon " expressly says : " Cursed be he that mingles his 
generation with the Lamanites." (Descendants of '* Laman," 
according to the " Book of Mormon," who rebelled against 
"righteous Nephi," and whose posterity were cursed black, 
brown, and copper-colored, into the present race of Indians.) 
But no doubt that sentence was like the denunciation against 
polygamy and many other things in that " book,"' as the ]\Ior- 
mons say, " very good in the time they were given, but with 
our present daily revelation no more use to us than a last year's 
almanac." Some of *the young men avowed to me their inten- 
tion of going at the earliest opportunity to get a Navajo girl. 
Jacob Ha"hilin visited that tribe last year, and on his return 
spent two weeks with the Moquis. A man and his wife from 



6G2 SANDSTONE. 

the Oraybe village, accompanied Hamlin to Salt Lake City. 
The Saints are looking a long way ahead in regard to their 
settlements in Arizona, and very judiciously too. 

Rockville, eight miles above A'^irgen City, is in a completely 
sequestered cove in the mountains at the very head of Vir^en 
River. Thence that stream flows southwest to join the Muddy, 
the two furnishing irrigation to several little Mormon towns. 

Bio Virgen, " River of the Virgin" (Mary), is another name 
in the track of the pious gold-hunting Spaniards. Like their 
mixed descendants, they bestowed sounding titles. In these re- 
gions a collection of adobes is Cludad dc los Angelos (" City of 
the Angels "); four scrub pines, El Paraiso, or Bosque del Santo 
Trinidad C^Gvove of the Holy Trinity "); and a mud-puddle 
M-itii water enough for a score of mules is glorified as Ojo de 
Todos los Santos {" Spring of all the Saints "). 

Coming down the Virgen to Toquerville, as I turned the 
point of the mountain northward, into the pass leading over to 
tlie Great Basin, I entered a limestone formation ; and was so 
delighted at the change that I was almost mos'ed to a shout of 
exultation. For over four hundred miles — all the way west of 
the divide of the Sierra Madre — I had seen notliing but sand- 
stone; white, red, yellow, gray or conglomerate, but still sand- 
stone. I suppose any kind of rock would grow tiresome in three 
or four weeks ; but it seems to me, when gazing on it day 
after day, no other can be so monotonous as sandstone. And 
then it is so unpromising a stone, as things are regarded in this 
country; one need not look for lodes of silver or lead in such 
a formation. But you will never be long in limestone or granite 
without meeting the prospector ; so I was not surprised to find 
six miners at the only hotel in tlie next town, Kanarra. 

That town is exactly on, or rather in, the rim of the Great 
Basin; tlie water in the south end of town flows out into the 
Muddy, and from the north end into the Basin — or toward it — 
sinking in a few miles. Here I had my fiirst serious misfortune. 
My horse and I had come across the mountains and deserts in 
good health and spirits; we both fell sick on reaching the settle- 
ments. We had stood adversity; prosperity ruined us. My 



HORSE AND RIDER TAKEN ILL. 663 

living across Arizona luid been mostly cured meat, bread and 
coffee, and that of" my horse bunch-grass ; we now got fresh beef, 
green peas and biscuit, also green " Lucerne " hay. My horse 
began with colic and proceeded to " flercy ; " while at Kanarra 
I was taken violently ill with cholera morbus. There was no 
doctor in town, so I worried it through on hot ginger and "Dixie 
wine;" in three days was able to ride, and proceeded by easy 
stages to Parowan, in Iron County. But six hundred miles 
through the Indian country had worn out my horse, and on the 
16th instant I "ranched him" twenty miles south of Beaver, 
and set out for that place in the wagon of a Mormon farmer. 
Some five miles on the road — when we were on the Beaver 
"divide" — a cold rain set in and continued for four hours, 
changing to something very near sleet. The Mormon family — 
man and wife and little boy — and myself suffered greatly with 
cold. The seasons at Beaver are very late, and wheat harvest 
does not begin till in August. Little Salt Lake lay a few 
miles west of our route, on the " divide," and the entire re- 
gion is subject to raw and chilling winds. Having passed the 
ridge, I walked down the eight-mile slope to Beavei-, which I 
reached at dark, and was soon warm and liappy in the house 
of a hospitable Gentile. 

Sixty miles intervened between me and Fillmore, the point 
where I could connect with the stages from Pioche to Salt Lake. 
But the "jerky " now runs three times per week from St. 
George, and was to pass on the afternoon of the 18th. Beaver 
is one of the Utah towns which has been revolutionized by the 
mining excitement. Every hotel and boarding-house is full of 
miners, prospectors and speculators; the streets wear a very un- 
Saintly look of life and business, and as the evil seems to come 
with the good, two saloons have been ojjened in opposition to 
the city liquor store, furnishing Mormon preachers a fine point 
for savage sermons on the "vile practices of the Gentile world." 
Star District, some thirty miles west of town, is very prosperous; 
and so many other mining camps are scattered through the 
mountains that it is claimed Beaver County now has a ma- 
jority of male voters Gentile. But the Mormon Legislature of 



G64 NEW MINES OPENING. 

1870 was sliarp enough to pix)vide for just such contingencies 
by conferring the suffrage on women. This a little more tiian 
doubles the Mormon vote, and does not increase that of the 
Gentiles in Beaver County five per cent. 

TliB two classes have got along pretty well together, content- 
ing themselves generally with talk ; the Tabernacle speakers 
denouncing the miners and calling upon all good Saints to have 
"no fellowship with the ungodly," and the miners retaliating 
in kind, with perhaps a little more profanity. 

If the priests could be persuaded to keep still awhile, miners 
and Mormons would soon be good friends; for their interests 
are identical. The Mormon wants a market near at hand, the 
miner wants fresh provisions ; each supplies the other's need, 
and by harmonious action both would prosper. It is to be 
hoped that the demands of trade and mutual intercourse will 
soon overcome religious fanaticism, and in spite of priestly in- 
tolerance Utah will ere long have a liomogeneous population. 
The military post just established at Beaver adds much to the 
importance of the place; it makes trade lively among the 
Saints, and the officers and their families add greatly to the 
Gentile society. A few miles south of town Fremont's road 
crosses the mountains through Paragoonah Pass to the Sevier 
country. 

New milling districts are being opened all over southwestern 
Utah. The latest sensation is the Silver Belt, some forty miles 
southwest of Cedar City, and three hundred from Salt Lake 
City. It has already shaken the former place out of its old 
style Mormon dullness, and the very home of the miscreants 
who perpetrated the Mountain Meadow massacre bids fair to 
become a lively miners' town. 

It is a singular fact that the people everywhere in southern 
Utah now talk quite freely of that massacre and never think of 
denying it, as do the Mormon papers of Salt Lake City. One 
vouiig man present at tlie massacre, states that one woman lay 
u[)on the ground with a brol^en limb and that Lee ordered him 
to shoot her. This was after tlie principal massacre. The 
young man replied: "I have none of tliis blood on my soul. 



MOR.MONISM MODERATING TO PROTESTANTISM. 665 

and I won't have any." Leo threatened him with death, and 
then shot the woman through the head. It is one of the 
strangest things in Ameriean history that there should be so 
much evidence, and so easily obtainable, upon this affair, and 
yet no legal inquiry made. The jury system and the peculiar 
statutes of Utah explain it. If a decided majority of the in- 
habitants of any county in Ohio should decide that a certain 
crime should not be punished, all the authorities of the State 
could not punish it. No grand jury regularly impanelled will 
indict, and no petit jury convict. The general feeling among 
Mormons is, that though those men are guilty, the Church has 
passed upon their case and handed them over to the " buffetings 
of Satan," and tl>e civil law has no business with it. 

Climbing upon the "jerky," at Beaver, I was pleased to 
recognize in the driver my old friend Will Kimball, who drove 
a team across the Plains in the same train as I did in 1868. 
Kimball's father was one of the many arrested the previous 
winter on charges relating to the conduct of the Mormon 
militia, in the rebellion of 1857, but was released with a hun- 
dred and twenty others, when the Supreme Court reversed 
Judge McKean's rulings. In the progress of Utah affairs 
nearly all of the family left by old Heber Kimball have become 
pretty good Gentiles. This seems to be the course of all such 
delusions which do not end in blood. 

The original force of fanaticism wears itself out. It may be 
compared to one of Utah's mountain streams, which plunges 
from a rocky gulch in torrents that threaten to tear up the 
whole country below. Five miles down the plain it has become 
a gentle rivulet or sluggish stream ; five miles further there is 
a channel of dry sand, with here and there a brackish pool. 
Thus with the Irvingites, Muggletonians, etc., and so with this 
delusion. Old Mormons die; young ones grow up infidels, 
and the system moderates to a mild Protestantism. Kimball 
and I were the only occupants, and had a delightful evening 
ride to Fillmore, which we reached soon after midnight. There 
I went to sleep in the "jerky," to wait for the Pioehe stage, 
expected in two hours, and slept so sound that all their racket 



6GG KEMARKABLE LAVA PEAK. 

ill changing horses did not waken me, and only the morning 
sunslilne in my face brought me to a consciousness that, willy 
nilly, I was to spend a day in Fillmore. 

This is the old Territorial capital, something like a hundred 
and seventy-five miles southwest of Salt Lake, and quite a 
beautiful town. Several wealthy Mormons reside here, in 
elegant brick and stone houses, and the ])lace is old enough 
for all the shade trees and shrubbery to have attained a good 
growth. Some thirty miles west of Fillmore is a remarkable 
mountain peak, or rather round heap of cinders and lava, some 
five hundred feet high. It is broken square across by a gulch 
"with almost perpendicular sides, at the bottom of which is a 
spring that is coated with ice around the edges for eleven 
months in the year. The altitude is no higher than that of 
Fillmore, but the sun never shines in the gorge, and snow 
always lies upon the sheltered hills. The Church at Fillmore 
was busy cutting off those who refused to assist the new move 
for a State Government. In their attempts at local indepen- 
dence the Mormons have succeeded completely in showing that 
they are unfit for it. Of some two hundred Mormons, the 
majority women, who voted and petitioned against the admis- 
sion of Utah as a State, every one has been cited before the 
Council and forced to publish a recantation or be "cut-off, and 
delivered over to the buffetings of Satan." Such is a "free 
vote" under an " infallible priesthood." 

We got on the road by 2 A. M., of the 20th, my companions 
being three miners and two "girls" from Pioche, and a young 
man and woman whom we could not exactly make out, and 
who soon became quite a mystery to the rest of us. Their loving 
conduct led us to conclude that they were a young married 
couple; but, after their first scare at us was over, they ventured 
to hint that they were cousins, and going from St. George to 
Salt Lake City. Every Gentile in Utah can recognize, or 
imagines he can, a Mormon at first sight; and as tiiese two had 
not the slightest sign of the "yahoo" about them, the rest of 
the party made themselves free and merry over every sight on 
the road, indulging in all the Gentile slang so common in Utah. 



BRIGHAM young's DAUGHTER. 6G7 

The miners were particularly emphatic in denouncing Brigham 
Young as a villain and a murderer, while the "girls" asUed 
such questions and made such ridiculous suggestions as to tiie 
way he divided time and kept peace among his wives, that our 
coach resounded with screams of laughter. To all this the 
young couple vouchsafed only a faint smile. We reached Pay- 
son at midnight, and learning that the next coach would not go 
on till 8 A. M., the "girls" took a room in the stage hotel, the 
miners and myself took to the stable-loft, while the young 
couple concluded to remain in the coach the rest of the night. 
Of course this was well enough for "cousins," but then "some 
people will make remarks." Where we stopped at dinner next 
day, at Spanish Fork, the Mormon family were delighted to see 
the young woman, and to our horror and astonishment we 
learned that it was Brigham Young's daughter ! I cursed my 
stupidity at not recognizing her, having seen her often in the 
city. Against her father's will she married a young Mormon 
some two years since, and both are generally regarded as apos- 
tates. I congratulated myself that I at least had said nothing 
very much out of the way, but for the rest of that ride I think 
we were the quietest coach load of people in America. At 
Draperville the young woman's husband met us, and the 
"cousin" became "even as one of us." 

On the evening of July 21, I found myself once more in 
" Zion," exactly four months from the day I left St. Louis for 
a tour through the Southern Territories. In that time I had 
traveled fourteen hundred miles by rail, six hundred by stage, 
three hundred by military wagon, two hundred on foot, and six 
hundred on horseback — at a total cost of $535. I reached 
"Zion" in splendid health, but complete disguise, if I am to 
judge from the conduct of my friends, many of whom passed 
me on the street without a nod, or with only a slight look of 
curiosity, as if some old and half- forgotten memory were stirred 
by sight of a face that "had a sort o' familiar look." How- 
ever, after a bath in the warm springs, getting off my buckskin 
pantaloons, spangled Mexican jacket and Navajo scarf, and 
donning a new summer suit, my fingers received once more the 



668 



PUBLISHERS NOTE. 



wonted squeeze, and once more I began to feel very like a 
Christian. 

Publishers' Note. — Shortly after the Author reached Salt 
Lake City, Mr. E. O.^ Beaman, photographer to the Powell 
Expedition, crossed the desert to JVIoqui, and spent several days 
taking views among those people. The representations of those 
towns are from photographs kindly furnished by Mr, Beaman ; 
those of scenes from Fort Wingate to Moqui, from sketches 
by the Author. 





CHAPTER XXXI. 

MY SUMMER VACATION. 

Diamonds by the bushel !— My conclusion — The sad fact— Off for Soda Springs- 
Cache Valley — Gen. Connor and the Battle of Bear River — Soda Mounds^ 
Health-restoring waters — "Anti-polygamy" Spring — Wonders of the Yellow- 
stone — Report of Hon. U. P. Langford — Return to Salt Lake City — Politics 
and Religion — Popular absurdities about Utah — A blast at Brigham and his 
allies. 

AVIXG traveled four months on business, I decided to 
travel one for pleasure ; and with that view turned 
towards the Northern Territories. I had gone into the 
wilderness to investigate the resources of the Tiiirty-fifth 
parallel road ; when I came out on the other side, the 
public had forgotten the proposed railroad, and the "Great 
Diamond Excitement" was at its iiight. It was the queerest 
episode in my Western experience. All my friends who were 
" footloose " had the "Arizona fever," and " wanted to know, 
you know, just the truth about the matter," as I had traveled 
directly through the diamond district. Diamonds by the bushel 
was about the least measure talked of. The following, from the 
San Francisco Morning Call, illustrates the prevailing ideas 
among the most moderate and cautious journals : 

A Call reporter was detailed to look into the matter yesterday, and obtain such 
reliable particulars as he could ; and as a preliminary he paid a visit to the Bank 
of California, where, he was informed, the diamonds, alleged to have been found 
in New Mexico, were to be seen. Passing into the directors' room, rather a 
curious sight presented itself. In the middle of the room was a handsome leather- 
covered table, such as is provided for the accommodation of directors of wealthy 
corporations ; and around it, with their heads close together like a group of boys 
examining into a contested game of marbles, were a dozen or so of capitalists, 
all intent upon something which their by no means attenu.ated persons first hid 
from the reporter's eye. It is true that a quart or two of self-evident rubies stood 
at one end of the table in an iron cash-box ; but the reporter had come to see 

6fi9 



670 



DI A:\rOXDS AND RUBIES. 







LOWER FALLS OF THE YELLOWSTONE, WYOMING, 
(350 FEET IN IIIGIIT.) 

diamonds, and rubies for the time being, though at other times they would have 
enchained his respectful attention, failed to attract him. The reporter found it 
necessary to gently push aside the representatives of a few million dollars, and 
then introducing his own head into the circle of bald and iron-gray chevdures, 
he found himself gazing at last upon the diamonds. There they lay scattered 
carelessly about, or heaped in an equally careless fashion upon pieces of torn 
newspaper; and no very imposing sight did they present. Gold looks aristo- 



PRECIOUS STONES. 671 

cratic even in its quartz, and it glistens as suggestively there as in the twenty- 
dollar piece ; but the diamond lias a most plebeian air until it has passed through 
tlie training and finishing school of the lapidary. The diamonds, in fact, looked 
like pieces of bright quartz; some were not even bright. They were of all 
shapes and sizes, from that of a canary seed to that of a small Lima bean. Some 
were almost cubic in shape, some were spherical, others pyramidical, others 
pear-shaped, and they numbered, perhaps, three thousand. Some were white, 
some yellowish in color, others bluish or greenish, and tsvo or three pieces of 
black mineral, each about the size of a man's thumb, were lying among tliein, 
which our re^iorter was informed were " black diamonds," and were useful for 
cutting purposes— more useful than ornamental. Nearly all the diamonds were 
uncut. Some few — a dozen or two— had been subjected to the lathe and shone 
brilliantly. 

Among the diamonds lay some dark blue stones; uninteresting enough in 
appearance, but acquiring more importance in one's eyes when recognized as 
large sapphires. They were uncut, and were therefore muddy and dull ; but 
when cut they will probably be splendid stones, as some of them were as large 
as the upper part of a man's thumb. 

Rubies stood about the table in little heaps. Perhaps there were a cou]ile of 
quarts of them ; some almost as small as a grain of sand, others fine handsome 
stones. The few cut rubies which were shown were some of them of remarka- 
bly good color. 

I produce this entire on account of its wonderful moderation 
of statement. Had the tenth [)art of what was published and 
sworn to proved true, diamonds would have become a drug in 
the market. To answer a tiiousand enquirers at once, early in 
August I published a caveat, concluding as follows: 

"I traveled directly through the reported diamond country, 
as located by the San Francisco Company, and I think I can 
safely make oath there were no diamonds there. Turquoises 
and garnets there are in abundance; every Indian has a j)int or 
so. Occasionally a ruby, of a very common kind, is to be met 
with, and lumps of fused quartz can be gathered by the bushel. 
The country has been open most of the time since 1850, and 
every year or so some man imagined he found diamonds. The 
officers from Fort Wingate prospected the entire region many 
years ago, with no results, and there have been parties tiiere 
every summer since the close of the Navajo war looking for 
diamonds. The Spaniards gathered bushels of curious .stones 
there a hundred years ago, and found not a diamond among 
them. So common has this hunting been that the Indians look 
upon every new-comer as a diamond hunter. My Navajo com- 



672 DIAMOND SWINDLE. 

panions, seeing I had nothing to trade, and was not a hunter, 
could not be convinced that I was not looking for diamonds, 
and brought me every curious stone they could find. I could 
have brought out busiiels of quartz crystals, fused quartz, 
garnets, red stone, conglomerate rock and obsidian ; but no 
diamonds. Now, it seems to me reasonable to conclude that, 
with all this hunting since 1850, if any diamonds were there 
they would have been discovered ere this. For this, and reasons 
1(00 numerous to mention, from the lay of the country, etc., I 
say emphatically : ' No diamonds.' " 

I am happy to state that this remains as true as the day it 
was written. And of the "Diamond Swindle," how the pro- 
jectors "salted" the ground, and ignorantly put stones side by 
side which are nevtr found together in a state of nature ; how a 
two million diamond company was organized, and half a million 
dollars paid in ; how even "experts" were victimized, and how 
the swindlers "got away with the baggage" — is it not all re- 
corded indelibly in the chronicles of those who invested their 
money and came out minus ? 

On Sunday, August 4th, I set out from Corinne for Soda 
Springs, on a "narrow-gauge" mule, and reached the first 
ranche in Cache Valley by night. The JSlormons have pro- 
jected a narrow-gauge railroad from a point on the Central 
Pacific about five miles west of Ogden, to the Springs; and had 
then finished it twenty-five miles, to the "divide" between 
Beaver River and Cache Valley. They promise to complete 
their road by August, 1873, and then this will undoubtedly 
become a great place of resort. Cache ("concealed") Valley is 
a renowned place in the history of the West. Bear River, after 
forming a U in Idaho, with the bend to the north, runs through 
a beautiful cauon into Cache, through which it winds in an 
irregular semi-circle for nearly seventy miles. From it rich 
coves and valleys put back into the mountains, and at the south- 
west corner it breaks through a rugged gap and "canons" 
downward to Bear River Valley. Thus Cache is inclosed on 
all sides by lofty mountains, their peaks tipped with snow all 
summer, and with but a few narrow openings ; while the climate 



NOBLE SHOSHONE." 673 




ON GUARD. 

is singularly mild and equable, and grass and water abundant. 
Forty years ago it was the winter rendezvous of the Northwest 
Fur Company, and the annals of that time tell of great councils 
held here with the Bannocks, Shoshones (Snakes), Uintahs and 
representatives from the Arrapahoes, Utes, Blackfeet and dis- 
tant tribes ; of barter in furs and Indian goods to the value of 
millions; of love-making between the swarthy trappers and 
Indian maidens, and too often of grand revels ending in a gen- 
eral fight, in which the ordinary hostile divisions were ignored 
and every man went in for personal revenge. 

The Indians still hang around in considerable numbers, 
gaining an uncertain subsistence from the diminished game, or 
by begging from the settlements. Between Corinne and the 
Springs I passed some seventy lodges. But the "noble Sho- 
shone" of early romance has disappeared. This tribe, which 
once dominated a region three hundred by four hundred miles 
in extent, is now reduced to eight or nine thousand ; and those, 
who live near the settlements are low and degraded, but little 
above Plutes. They made their last stand at Battle Creek in 
43 



674 SODA SPRINGS. 

1861 and 1862, and killed many emigrants to Oregon and Mon- 
tana, besides committing many depredations on the Mormon 
settlements below. There General Connor, commanding the 
Nevada volunteers and a regiment of California cavalry, at- 
tacked them in January, 1863 ; and after a bloody and obstinate 
battle, completely defeated them, killing and capturing four 
hundred warriors. The coalition of Bannocks and Shoshones 
was completely broken, and they have given no serious trouble 
since. 

This opened the way to the full settlement of Cache, which 
now contains thirteen Mormon towns with a population of 
twelve thousand, and is the great grain producing region of 
Utah. The Saints now extend from a point sixty miles into 
Idaho to the lower Colorado, a hundred miles into Arizona, 
making a nearly continuous line of settlements six hundred 
miles long. 

From the upper part of Cache, partly in Idaho, the road 
rises to a rocky plateau, across which eighteen miles bring one 
to the Springs. Here, at the northern bend of Bear River, the 
mountains give back in a sort of semicircle, inclosing a broad 
plain, dotted by soda mounds. Everywhere on and among 
these mounds, mostly in solid rock, are the Soda Springs, of 
every size, from two inches to a rod in width. Some boil fur- 
iously with a loud bubbling noise and escape of gas; others 
show but a faint effervescence ; some are always calm, and never 
overflow, while others send out large and constant streams, and 
still others sink a foot or two when the air is cool, and rise to 
an overflow only when it is \varm. The springs on the soda 
mounds are mere tanks, but a few inches wide, sending out 
such faint streams that all the solid contents are precipitated 
and the water quite evaporated before reaching the plain. Thus 
it is easily seen how these mounds were built by the water; and 
many of them have risen so high that they have no springs, the 
water having broken out at some other place. The springs 
most relied on for their tonic properties are four in number. 

1. The Octagon, about a yard wide, and half a mile from the 
river. It seems to contain about equal parts of iron and soda. 



ANTI-MORMON SPRING. 675 

and its tonic effects are wonderful. Invalids often insist that 
the first drink does them good, and that they can notice a de- 
cided improvement every day tliey use it. The taste, however, 
is not as pleasant as that of the pure soda springs. 

2. Roland's Spring, only a few rods from the river bank, is 
considered nearly as good as the first in other respects, and 
much better for dyspepsia alone. It is a clear, cold pool in red 
rock, does not overflow, effervesces but slightly, and is rather 
more acid to the taste than the first. 

3. The Big Spring, or Hooper's, is some two or three miles 
from the river and near the point of the mountain. It is a rod 
wide, and presents the appearance of an immense cauldron 
boiling furiously. But the water is nearly ice cold and very 
pleasant. I am informed it contains nothing but pure soda. 
Hence it is more pleasant to the taste than either of the others, 
but is not quite so fine a tonic. The rock basis there is covered 
with a rich soil heavily sodded with grass, which lines the 
spring, and hangs into the water ; and above it rises the green 
slope of the mountain, giving this the most picturesque location 
of all the springs. From it flows a stream some six feet widj 
and nearly a foot deep, into Soda Creek, which, made almost 
entirely by chemical springs, forms the outlet of Soda Lake, a 
few miles above. In a beautiful location near this sprino- Hon. 
W. H. Hooper has a handsome summer residence, now occu- 
pied by himself and family. This water is often used with 
lemon-sugar, making a drink equal to the best soda from fonn- 
tains. 

4. The Ninety-per-cent. Spring, which Gentiles call the Anti- 
polygamy Spring, is some two miles west of Hooper's, and about 
the same distance from the river. Of the solid contents ninety 
per cent, is soda, and the rest of some {>eculiar mineral which 
has a remarkable effect on the male human. Many ridiculous 
stories are told of its anti-Mormon properties, but fortunately 
the specific effect lasts but a few weeks. A few quarts of it will 
destroy the strongest faith in the necessity of polygamy. Suffice 
it to add that if Joe Smith had been living near such a spring 
in the early months of 1843, the Mormon Church would never 
have been cursed with the doctrine of " plural wives." 



676 



GAME. 




TOWER FALLS — AVYOMING. 



The climate in August is about as cool as early October in 
Salt Lake City, and the air most delightful. Tiiere is fine fish- 
ing in Bear River, and good hunting grounds half a day's ride 
eastward. A day farther in that direction, across the first 
mountain, will bring one to the range of larger game, such as 
cinnamon bears, mountain lions and bighorn sheep ; but few 



SARATOGA OF THE WEST. 677 

visitors care to try it. Four miles above the Big Spring are the 
Formation Springs, and a remarkable cave. There may be 
seen the remarkable sight of grass and sage brush, part petrified 
and part still growing, as the spray settles on the upper portion 
of it; while farther down in the water may be found sage brush 
and greasewood moulded in solid stone. A few miles up the 
river are sulphur springs, and a little below the Octagon is the 
Steamboat Spring, the only feature of the place which seriously 
disappointed me. I had heard so much of its wonders, that 
when I found it merely a hole in the rock, two feet wide, filled 
with boiling water, with a smaller hole near emitting steam, I 
felt defrauded. Here is a region some ten miles square, espe- 
cially set apart as a sort of nmseum for the wild })lay of nature's 
chemicals — called Soda Springs only because that article pre- 
dominates. The original formation seems to have been a sort 
of red volcanic stone, mingled with iron ; through this the soda 
has boiled up and built a deposit of soil. 

To this place, in 1863, General Connor brought three com- 
panies of soldiers and established a military post, which has 
been abandoned some years, the necessity for it having passed 
away. With Connor came eighty families of Morrisites, who 
had been *' scattered and peeled" for a year or so, living as out- 
casts among the Mormons ; they built a considerable town, and 
many of them remain. The rest removed in a body to Wash- 
ington Territory.- The location is too cool for grain, and the 
settlers devote themselves to stock raising, in which they are 
quite prosperous. Two years ago Captain Hooper and Brigham 
Young bought most of the land in the vicinity, and decided to 
make this an important point. And they will succeed, for here 
are the air and the water which have a magical effect on in- 
valids. By next August they promise to have their narrow-gauge 
road completed ; then one can reach here from the Pacific road 
in nine hours, and in a few years, I have no doubt. Soda 
Springs will drop the prefix "future" and become the actual 
" Saratoga of the West." 

Three hundred miles northeast of Soda Springs, but two or 
three times as far away by any possible road, is the new National 



678 GEYSER BASIN. 

Park of the Yellowstone. First brought to public notice iu 
1870, by the notable expedition of Hon. N. P. Langford, Gen- 
eral H. D. Washburne, Hon. Truman C. Everts, and other 
distinguished citizens of Montana, it is now attracting great 
attention, and destined to be the goal of curiosity seekers for a 
quarter of a century. The party, consisting of nineteen j)ersons, 
followed up the Gallatin to its head and crossed over a rocky 
ridge to the Yellowstone; from the last inhabited spot on that 
stream, they followed up an Indian trail to the great basin of 
the Yellowstone. 

Their re[)ort told of such wonders that it was received with 
incredulity; but later explorations have more than verified them. 
They were threatened by hostile Indians nK)st of the time, and 
obliged to keep guanl night and day. Of the first curiosity, 
which they named "The Devil's Slide," Mr. Langford says: 
"Two parallel vertical walls of rock project from the side of the 
mountain to a hight of 125 feet, traversing the mountain from 
base to summit, a distance of 1500 feet. The sides are as even 
as if they had been worked by line and plumb, — the whole 
space between, and on either side of them, having been eroded 
and washed away." 

Of the Geyser Basin he says: "One of our company a])tly 
compared it to the entrance of the infernal regions. It looked 
like nothing earthly we had seen, and the pungent fumes which 
filled the air were not unaccompanied by a disagreeable sense 
of possible suffocation. We found the entire surface of the 
earth covered with the incrusted sinter thrown from the springs. 
Jets of hot vapor were exj)elled through a hundred orifices. 
The springs- were all in a state of violent ebullition, throwing 
their liquid contents to the hight of three or four feet." 

The report gives interesting descriptions of giant geysers, 
throwing boiling water high in the air; of the Upper and 
Lower Falls of the Yellowstone; of the great falls of Tower 
Creek, and Rock Pinnacles excelling all others in the moun- 
tains. As time did not admit of my visiting these wonders, I 
present drawings thereof, from original sketches by Mr. Lang- 
ford's party ; the which, if the reader studies carefully, he will 
know more about them than I do. 














^ 



'* ' ; ' ,' 







679 



680 



ELECTIONEERING. 




UPPER FALLS OF THE YELLOWSTONE. 



From the coolness and quiet of Soda Springs I returned to 
the heat of Zion — then hot in a double sense, for the Saints 
were all wearing white hats and yelling themselves hoarse for 
Horace Greeley. When I reached there from the South it seemed 
to me that I had never seen Salt Lake so free from politico- 
religious excitement since the early autumn of 1868; there 
appeared actually nothing to quarrel about. The State Govern- 
ment agitation was mostly over, and all were taking a sort of 
truce. The Courts were again in operation under the new 
regime, which leaves the power about equally divided; Judge 
McKean was back in his old place, and, despite his legal rebuff 
at Washington, universally respected by Gentiles and Liberal 
Mormons. The improvement in business over last year had 
not been as great as the sanguine hoped for, still there was an 
improvement; and though the increase in mining over 1871 
was not as great as in that year over 1870, it was great enough 
to warrant large investments. 

In this condition of affairs the campaign opened. The Church 
nominated for Congress George Q. Cannon, a four-wived apostle, 
declaring in so many words that Hooper was only a "sort of 
Mormon, anyhow," and Utah should be represented by one in 



NOMINATIONS FOR CO^'GKESS. 



681 




YELLOWSTONE LAKE. 



full faith and good j)ractice. There was in the declaration a 
most ludicrous assumption of superior Mormon morality and 
toleration, plainly conveying this idea : We have humored this 
nation long enough, and tolerated their prejudices till they think 
we must; we will send them a good Saint and a representative 
man, who will give dignity and decency to a corrupt Congress, 
etc. The Liberals nominated Gen. George R. Maxwell ; and 
all the bitterness of the contest in the nation was increased ten- 
fold by the religious element introduced into the quarrel. Again 
the Tabernacle resounded with prophecies, threats and denunci- 
ations; and again we heard, for the ten-thousandth time, of the 
"wonderful sobriety, energy and industry of this people; who 
broke the roads to this country, redeemed the wilderness, made 
the desert blossom as the rose," etc., etc., etc., ad nauseam. 

A few words on this subject before I bid good-bye to Utah — 
as I hope, forever. It is indeed curious that the Mormon claim 
on this point should be allowed so fully in the East, even by 
intelligent men. As an instance, I quote from an article in a 
prominent Eastern magazine — one no doubt regarded as the 
embodiment of all that is correct by some fifty thousand fami- 
lies. The author came to Salt Lake City, stayed a week, and 
really ought to have known something about the Territory. 
Yet here is what he says : " They have, in an incredibly short 



682 " MORMON ENTERPRISE." 

space of time, planted in Utah a most industrious population 
of a quarter of a million. Their agriculture is a marvel of 
skill, and they have drawn abundant wealth out of a soil which 
all before the'in had pronounced utterly worthless. Their manu- 
factures rival those of the older States; and for five hundred 
miles from north to south, in the center of the American Desert, 
the traveler sees with amazement a succession of turnpikes, cities 
with improved streets and elegant homes, and looks upon hun- 
dreds of miles of canals in what was once thought a waterless 
desert." 

The best answer to such fustian is in a few plain facts, such 
as any one may verify for himself by the census and agricul- 
tural reports, or by writing to any reliable resident. 

Utah has been settled a quarter of a century ; about the same 
time as Iowa; twice as long as Colorado or Nevada, and three 
times as long as Montana. The census of 1870 gave Utah a 
population of 90,000. There is not a foot of regular turnpike, 
a rod of bowldered street, or a mile of navigable canal in the 
entire Territory. What they call turnpike in Utah is simply 
the natural soil thrown up in the worst places, and owing to the 
dryness of the climate, it is tolerably good for nine months in 
the year. Their streets are the natural gravel, very good in 
good weather, very bad in bad weather. The Mormons have 
never tried to make more than one canal : the twenty-four mile 
canal from Cottonwood, to float the stone to the temple. It 
was begun by inspiration of Brigham Young ; every ward 
detailed a certain number of men to work on it, and when 
$35,000 had been expended in money and labor, it was found 
that the city end of the canal was about ten feet higher than the 
Cottonwood end, where the water was to be turned in ! Water 
would not run uphill even for a Propiiet, and the dry channel 
remains a beautiful monument to " Mormon enterprise." Brig- 
ham has made four attempts at manufacturing, but every one 
has proved a flat failure. The manufacture of beet sugar was 
undertaken under his special direction, and $60,000 invested in 
buildings and machinery. It proved a total failure, and not a 
dollar was ever realized by those who invested. 



"COLORADO COMPANY." 683 

His next project was the Colorado Transportation Company. 
All the goods for Utah were to be brought by steamers up the 
Colorado, reducing the land passage to four or five hundred 
miles, and making all Southern Utah independent of the 
freighters across the plains. At his direction — at his command 
ratlier — such prominent men as \Y. S. God be, Henry Lawrence, 
and others, subscribed heavily to the stock, paying in dollar for 
dollar, and the " long warehouses " at Callville, on the Colo- 
rado, were erected. They still stand, freight still comes over 
the plains and stock in the " Colorado Company " is worth 
four cents on the dollar " for speculative purposes." And this 
failure is not due to the railroad; the scheme had collapsed 
years before the Union Pacific started out of Omaha. W. S. 
Godbe cited these facts when he was on trial before the " School 
of the Prophets," as proof that God did not inspire men in 
business matters ; but that experience was the only true guide 
tliere. Brigham replied that the stock in that company would 
yet come up to a premium, to which Godbe rejoined with a 
sarcastic offer to sell his to Brigham now at ten cents on the 
dollar. 

As to manufactures, there are said to be some in successful 
operation in the southern part of Utah. The Beaver Woolen 
Mill, which takes the lead, is about such a factory as one may 
find in every county in Ohio. Possibly ten thousand miners 
have been added since 1870, bringing the total population to 
100,000. The Mormons made a great outcry about fraud and 
misrepresentation in this census, and soon after entered upon an 
enumeration of their own, to prove that they had people enough 
to entitle them to a State Government. They have devoted 
considerable of their vaunted "energy" to publishing nothing 
whatever of the results, but now say, in general terms, that 
their people number 120,000. 

As to wealth, there are no people in the United States, New 
Mexico possibly excepted, who will average as poor as the 
Mormons. The twenty thousand Gentiles now in Utah own 
thirty per cent, more property than all the eighty thousand 
Mormons. The mines of Utah are already worth more than 



684 RICHES. 

the real estate; four-fifths of the money now in circulation 
comes from Gentiles, and the Emma Mine alone brings more 
money into tiie country than the agriculture of any two 
counties in Utah. Brigham may possibly be worth a million 
dolhirs, but I doubt it. I can not see where it came from. 
Below him there are not, inside the Church, twenty wealthy 
men ; and even in Salt Lake City the finest houses, best im- 
proved property, and most paying institutions are in the hands 
of Gentiles. Walker Brothers, who got out of the Church 
young enough to learn Gentile ways, and substitute common 
sense for inspiration, do a business equal to that of all the retail 
co-operative stores; and Mr. Warren Hussey, the Gentile 
banker of Salt Lake City, could buyout the whole "College 
of the Twelve Apostles " with one year's income. 

In the year 1872, Mr. Hussey paid within a few hundred 
dollars of twice the amount of revenue paid by the whole 
Mormon people, from Brigham Young down. In the enor- 
mous fortunes which have been made in the last two years by 
mining operations, I know of but two Mormons who have 
shared, and one of them, a Mr. Groesbeck, is already under a 
cloud, threatened with excommunication by Brigham because 
he declines to divide. 

A very little reflection will show any business man that the 
Mormons can not be a wealthy people; that there can not be 
that wealth in the hands of Brigham Young which is so often 
spoken of They went to Utah in the last stages of poverty, 
next door to starvation ; and their converts since have been 
from the lowest, poorest and most ignorant peasantry of Europe. 
Most of them could only emigrate with aid extended by the 
Church. As Brigham said in a sermon lately: "They did not 
know enough to put a pig in a pen — and where they came from 
never had a pig to put in a pen." Manifestly they brought no 
wealth with them. The Church records show that of the new 
converts at least forty per cent, apostatize and get away before 
three years ; and about thirty per cent, more apostatize soon or 
late. I once heard Brigham make out the figures in a sermon, 
demonstrating that of all who joined the Church over seventy 



MORMON POVERTY. 685 

per cent, apostatized. And by a singular coincidence it is those 
who have the most money who generally apostatize. And 
where did this supposed wealth come from ? They were there 
three years before they had any trade; then came the California 
emigration, which gave them some trade until 1855 or 1856. 
But all from that source would not make fifty dollars to each 
person in Utah. Then came successively the trade with other 
mining countries, which redeemed Utah from utter poverty; 
but all combined could not make her rich. A community can 
not get rich on the sale of surplus produce, when four families 
out of five have no surplus. And that is tiie case two years 
out of three in Utah. The Mormon farms average from five 
to ten acres. Twenty acres is an immense farm in one of these 
little valleys. Indeed, one family can not tend so much Avith 
their wretchedly awkward system of irrigation. Most of the 
families are barely self-sustaining on such a little patch as that. 
There has probably been more wholesale judicious lying 
done by Mormon missionaries in Europe, about the glories and 
advantages of Utah, tlian by the advocates of any other cause 
in the world. The Mormons are better off, far better off, now 
than ever before in their history ; and this is owing entirely to 
the development of the mines, which the pig-headed priesthood 
so long opposed. I wish our brilliant magazinist had gone to 
some of the more remote settlements to look at some of those 
"elegant homes" he speaks of. In Salt Lake City there are 
some nice buildings — perhaps one-third or one-half as many as 
in Omaha and other Western cities of the size. A few more 
may be found in Ogden, Provo, Fillmore, and three or four 
other prominent places. But let the traveler turn out to 
Heber City, or the secluded places up San Pete or the Sevier, 
and he will find a degree of poverty and ignorance he would 
scarcely have credited among the peasantry of Europe. And 
there he will find the simon-pure, straight-out and fanatical 
Mormons — a race of simple shepherds, with reason scarce 
above the sheep they drive. There the unhappy traveler, if 
compelled to seek shelter in winter, will find it in a Swedish 
" dug-out " or a half-mud hut, tenanted equally by dogs, Danes, 



686 THE UNIVERSITY. 

fleas, and other undesirables. He will thaw his numbed limbs 
by the sickly simmer of a sage-brush Are, force a scant supper 
of suspicious porridge, and sink to uneasy slumbers upon the 
ground or a pile of straw, from which he will rise in the 
morning steaming with earthy damps or wrenched with rheuma- 
tism, lined with fleas, or half crazy with itch. A single night 
in one of these "elegant homes" will fully prepare him for 
eulogies on Mormon thrift and progress. 

In Kansas, Nebraska or Dakota, all of which were then 
open to the Mormons, it costs about three dollars to make an 
acre of wild land fit for cultivation ; in Utah from twenty-five 
to a hundred dollars. And to this country, across that country, 
Brigham, " by inspiration," led his people eleven hundred 
miles. The answer, of course, is that he wanted to isolate 
them. Well, polygamy was the only reason for wanting them 
isolated; and in the very nature of things only a few of the 
leading and wealthy men, about one in six of the whole, can 
practise polygamy. And that this little aristocracy may live a 
life of domestic sensuality, all the rest must spend a weary life 
of profitless toil. If such a man be a real Moses, where do you 
find a spurious one ? 

And what of education ? Look again at the census, and find 
single counties in Utah with more adults who can not read and 
write than in any Congressional district in the States. Two or 
three times a year the "University of Deseret" puts forth a 
pretentious catalogue, with a lengthy list of professors and 
officials, which is quoted admiringly "in foreign parts;" and 
every day hundreds of strangers in the city jjass the said "Uni- 
versity " building, without the slightest suspicion that they are 
within the shadow of an institution of learning. Ask at 
random a hundred visitors to Utah, and ninety-nine of them 
will declare they saw no "University." And yet every one of 
them passed it when they entered the city. It is a two-story 
adobe, plastered and dun-colored, perhaps forty by twenty feet 
in extent, at the upper end of Main Street; and looks like a 
tolerably respectable second rate grocery store. 

But the highest eulogies are reserved for " Mormon Indus- 



EVILS OF MORMONISM. 687 

try." The Mormons are just like all other people in one 
respect — they will work rather than starve ; but unlike most 
other people in America in the fact that, when their purely 
material wants are satisfied, the most of them care for nothins: 
further. They have adopted the bee as their model, and are 
content with the blind instincts of the bee — satisfied with food 
and shelter, with little regard to the higher man. I never had 
the evils and wrongs of Morraonism, in a purely economical 
view, so forcibly brought to my mind as when I went thence 
to Minnesota. There were Scandinavian colonies of the same 
race as many of the Mormon converts in Utah, who came to 
this country in the same condition of poverty as these ; they 
are now the wealthiest people in the country, and these, as 
Brighara says, " have a cow and two or three pigs apiece, and 
are beginning to live." In 1859, when I lived in Minnesota, 
I could but laugh at the odd and poverty-stricken appearance 
of the long trains of Norweigans I saw filing in to their colo- 
nies. Last September I saw the same colonies with all that 
heart could wish ; their granaries full, and their cattle num- 
bered by tens of thousands; and the little colony of Norwegians 
above Monticello, Minnesota, on a tract perhaps eight miles 
square, have more ready money, and more that will sell for 
ready money, than all the Scandinavians in Utah. 

There we see the results of untrammeled energy following 
natural law ; here the results of a cruel and repressive theo- 
cratic system, which destroys individuality and contravenes 
natural law. And, indeed, how can these people improve 
their condition? To advance, an agricultural community must 
have a regular surplus to apply in improvements ,and new 
investments. But the surplus of these people is taken up in 
tithing and donations to the Church, and the ten per cent, a 
year which ought to go to building up each man's prosperity, 
goes to swell the revenues of the Church. And worse than 
all, the Church itself, or rather the priesthood, does not profit 
thereby; for the system is a wasteful one and destructive to 
real prosperity. All the sap and nutriment of the country, 
all that ought to return in vivifying currents to the extremities. 



688 



BRIGHAM YOUNG RESPONSIBLE. 




THE GIANTESS — YELLOWSTONE. 



goes to swell, not 
a healthful center, 
but a bloated and 
unwholesome ex- 
crescence. And this 
is my indictment 
against Brigham 
Young : That he 
has brought these 
poor people here 
with delusive pro- 
mises ; that his sys- 
tem keeps them 
almost as poor as 
they were in Eu- 
rope, when the 
same labor else- 
where in our coun- 
try would have 
made them rich ; 
that he has wasted 
their energies in 
the pursuit of a 
wild fanaticism, 
and, though their 
condition be a little 
improved, his un- 
natural system of 
religious govern- 
ment has made fifty 
thousand producers 
the poorest in the 
country, and a 
source only of 
■weakness and poli- 
tical embarrass- 
ment to the Nation, 



MORMONISM A HUMBUG. 689 

when a natural system of immigration, each pursuing his own 
good, untrammeled by priestcraft or theocracy, would have 
made each one of them rich, and added fifty millions to the 
wealth of the Nation. 

Mormonism is even a greater humbug as an industrial sys- 
tem than as a religion — there is less production to the number 
of workers — though take it as one may, it is the champion 
humbug of modern times. It began on a stolen romance, 
fraudulently palmed off as a bible. Its prophet was a fiddling 
sot ; his successor is socially a boor, and as a financier or 
manager the worst overrated man of the age ; and its pretences 
of industry, morality and sobriety are even more fraudulent 
and unfounded than its claims as a religion. A very little 
reflection ought to convince any one that the claims put forth 
for Mormon industry and progress could not be true while its 
social system is as it is; for it is in the nature of things impos- 
sible that material progress should be cotemporary with moral 
retrogression ; that a people should for any length of time go 
forward in industry and education, and backward in sense and 
morals. No, those who maintain that the Mormons are pro- 
gressing so finely in material things, must admit either that 
their religion is true, or that the soundest principles of philoso- 
phy are in their case falsified. 

I do not wonder at Mormons boasting ; for a people united 
in the faith they are, are necessarily in opposition to all the 
rest of the world. I do not object to their falsehoods about 
themselves; for falsehood is an essential of their religion. But 
I do object to their outside apologists attempting by such mis- 
representations to bolster up a falling cause. 

Under the anomalous voting system of Utah, the Gentile 
minority, tliough paying three-fourths of the Government 
taxes, is completely disfranchised ; the mere will of Brigham 
Young, operating through the Church machinery, determining 
who shall be elected. The Governor and District Courts are 
all that stand between Gentile property and Mormon rapacity ; 
but that barrier they now seek to remove by a State organiza- 
tion. 

44 



690 NO PEACE IN UTAH. 

« 

It is said that there are still a few people in the East in favor 
of creating a Mormon State. That is, be it understood, a 
State where every official, from Governor to Constable, would 
be nominated by Brigham Young, and elected by the Mormon 
majority, voting solidly under the direction of the priesthood. 
Then we should have Gentile mining interests, involving 
millions, settled by Mormon priests as judge and jury; Gentile 
estates cut up in Mormon Probate, and Mormons tithing the 
inheritance of the widow and orphan ; Mormon officials pur- 
suing accused men into Gentile towns, searching and insulting 
whom they pleased. Riots, mobs and forcible rescues would 
follow as naturally as the crop follows the seed ; for nobody 
would have any confidence in the law. These foreigners, 
arrogant by their religion and swelled by triumph, would again 
organize the Nauvoo Legion, which the gallant Shaffijr abol- 
ished, and enjoy themselves lording it over American citizens. 
And would the miners and Gentiles peaceably endure this? 
No, never. Come what may, though it cost blood to prevent 
it, this incestuous race and foresworn priesthood should never 
snap the whip of priestly domination over American miners. 
You might as well tell me that you can make Vesuvius into a 
powder-house, as that you can erect a JNIormon State in Utah, 
and have peace. 




CHAPTER XXXII. 

SHOET NOTES ON A LONG EXCURSION. 

Another ride on the Union Pacific— Down to St. Louis— Up to Nauvoo— His- 
toric interest— A strange old place— German vintners— Beauty of the site- 
Through Iowa— Southern Dakota— Yankton politicians— Territorial Officials 
— " The Government cannot afford good men "—Down the Missouri — An 
uncertain channel— On the Sioux City and St. Paul Road. 

'O fully enjoy a ride on the Trans-Continental, one ought 
to be a " Pioneer" — one of those who whacked mules or 

^_. oxen across the Plains in the olden time. Then the 

f°3 bright contrast — smoothness and speed where he toiled 
so slowly and wearily along — raises his enjoyment far 
above that of commonplace travelers by rail. I am only half 
qualified in this respect, as I drove a mule team only four hun- 
dred miles — my first trip to Salt Lake City. But in the short 
time since the road has worked wondrous changes. 

I left "Zion" at 4 A. m. of August 20th; breakfasted at 
Ogden, and soon entered upon the long ride in one of those 
rolling palaces which have done so much to make travel by 
rail a continual delight. What a change from the back of an 
ambling American horse on which I made the tour of Arizona. 
And I could but ask myself, somewhat doubtfully, too : shall I 
ever roll along the line of the Thirty-fifth parallel road in a 
Pullman palace, as I now ride where four years ago I toiled 
with mule teams? The change would be no greater than I 
have seen here. 

Our sleeping car contained the usual assortment to be found 
on eastern bound cars at this season. Four English families 
from Honolulu were on their way home on a visit. Fifteen 
years ago the young people had gone there, married and settled; 

691 



692 



ON THE UNION PACIFIC. 




THE OLD WAY ACROSS THE PLAINS. 



they had promised themselves a trip to "Hold Hingland" as 
soon as the great American road should be completed, enabling 
them to break the monotony of a long sea voyage, and in three 
years after its completion had got ready to start. The bright 
children, natives of the Sandwich Isles, had preserved the clear 
fckin and bright bine eyes of the native Briton; but on this 
Anglo-Saxon basis were engrafted a thousand queer Western 
ways, accompanied by soft tropical words, Kanaka names and 
"native" slang. There were three young Britons from China, 
returning home after five years' absence ; and two Russian gen- 
tlemen, prominent in science, who had been exploring the mines 
and mountains of Utah for some weeks past. Of our own 
people there was more variety : the mountain miner who had 
"struck it rich" in some of the newly discovered placers, and 
was on his way East to enjoy his fortune ; the returned Cali- 
fornian, Mdio had been "in luck," and a dozen classes of moun- 
taineers, prospectors, hunters and tourists. The pile of trunks 
at the junction formed quite a study : they were marked Mel- 
bourne, Hong Kong, Ijondon, A^ictoria, San Diego and Alaska; 
with a score of places in " the States," Chicago always predom- 
inating. 



IMPROVEMENTS. 



693 



Improvements are noticeable everywhere on the road. All 
traces of the wrecks of last winter are gone; the defective sheds 
are removed, and every place of possible blockade carefully 
guarded, so that it is nearly or quite impossible that the trouble 
of last winter should ever be repeated. With the improvements 
on the California 
end the whole line 
is about as near 
perfect as man's 
work can become, 
and we may justly 
claim that it is not 
only the longest, 
but the best built 
road in the world. 

Reachino; Oma- 
ha I saw by the 
press that twenty 
persons had died 
the previous day 
in St. Louis by sun- 
stroke. I had put 
in the early part 
of the summer 
where one needed 
two or three blan- 
kets every night, 
and it seemed that 
I would melt under 
the heat of the 
Missouri Valley. 
But the thermom- 
eter marked the 
same degree as in 

Utah. The same temperature is mucli more debilitating in the 
Mississippi Valley to one just from the mountains; it appears 
more steamy and weakening than the day heat of Utah and 
Northern Arizona. 




MONUMEXT ROCK— ECHO CANON. 



694 NAUvoo. 

After two clays at St. Louis I was informed that '^ our party 
at Yankton, Dakota, were ready for excursion on the North 
Pacific ;" and on the 31st of August took boat northward, saving 
one day for a visit to Nauvoo— a city of great historic interest 
to Utah people. It has the most beautiful site in Illinois. The 
river makes a bend westward nearly in the shape of a U ; the 
point in the lower part is a mile wide, and lies just high enough 
above the river for commercial convenience; and thence the 
hill rises by gentle slopes for two miles eastward. At the upper 
end of the flat on the river is a splendid steamboat landing, and 
about half way around the bend the rapids begin, giving a fine 
front for manufacturing purposes. Here the Mormons had 
projected a row of cotton manufactories; they were to bring the 
cotton up the river, and with their own operatives, converted 
from the workshops of England, build up a great manufacturing 
community. Could they have maintained peace with their 
neighbors, they would have had some fifteen years to perfect 
this scheme before the railroad era superseded river transporta- 
tion, and Nauvoo would have had too great a start for the tide 
to turn. They and their apologists of course maintain that the 
Gentiles were altogether to blame for the breaking up of these 
fine schemes ; but when a man moves six or seven times, as 
they did, and quarrels with the neighbors every time, I am in- 
clined to conclude that he takes the worst neighbor along with 
him every move. I was most agreeably disappointed in the 
appearance of Nauvoo, having often heard that it was a gloomy 
collection of uninhabited and dilapidated houses. I found it 
neat, prosperous and beautifully improved, with a population 
of twenty-five hundred, many new dwellings, and not one un- 
occupied. 

After the Mormons came a people even more curious than 
they, but quite harmless : the Icarians, or French " Fraternal 
Society" of Communists, under the lead of M. Cabet. The 
term has been so much abused of late that I will explain by 
stating that these Communists were substantially of the same 
class as those Robert Owen brought to Posey County, Indiana 
— that is, all the property belonged to the society. They wore 



NATIVE WINES. 695 

a common uniform, maintained the family relation, and worked 
in detailed squads. But Cabet used poor judgment in his se- 
lections: here was to be seeii a former college professor herding 
swine; there a Paris goldsmith driving oxen, and a well-known 
scholar, crack-brained on socialistic theories, was made assistant 
sawyer at the society's mill. It cured him, however. 

Inherent in all such societies is one fatal weakness : they 
ignore individuality ; forget the patent fact that zeal for the 
community is only a secondary sentiment, resulting from the 
individual's zeal for himself, and like the Jews with the Sab- 
bath, imagine that man was made for society, instead of society 
for the convenience of the man. Two or three years the ex- 
periment continued; then the Icarians divided their property 
and left, and Nauvoo sunk to a village of some six hundred 
people. Ten years after it began to improve, and is now pros- 
perous, the bulk of its inhabitants being German vine-dressers, 
a neat, trusty and pleasant class of Bavarians and Westphalians. 
Every house is surrounded by orchards and vineyards, and 
native wine and fruits of all kinds are cheap. By invitation 
of Fred. Baum, the principal vintner of the place, I spent two 
hours in his cellars, and found the wine equal to any of native 
production. After sampling the white and red Concord, Ca- 
tawba, Delaware and a peculiar sweet wine made from the Nor- 
ton seedling grape, my palate became somewhat confused, and 
I declined the Clinton and Nauvoo Sparke which, as the best, 
were reserved to the last. The place is rai)idly becoming im- 
portant for its vintage. 

Where the great Mormon temple once stood is now a fine 
vineyard, and not one of the original stones remains. Three 
of the neighboring houses are built entirely of the beautiful 
white rock, and the rest has made Avails and foundations all 
over town. This wonderful structure cost between a half and 
three-quarters of a million dollars in money and labor, and the 
Icarians had proposed to fit it up as a social hall and school- 
room. But at 2 A.M. of November 10, 1848, it was found to 
be on fire, and before daylight every particle of woodwork was 
destroyed. It was set on fire in the third story of the steeple, 



696 



MORMON TEMPI-K BURNED. 




liiil'iM 













MORSION TEMPLE AT NAUVOO, ILLINOIS. 

one hundred and forty feet from the ground. The dry pine 
burned like tinder; there was no mode of reaching the fire, 
and in twenty minutes the whole wooden interior was a mass 
of flames. In two hours nothing remained but hot walls, in- 
closing a bed of embers. At Montrose and Fort Madison, 
Iowa, they could distinguish every house in Nauvoo, and the 
light was seen forty miles away in both States. It was a great 
loss to Nauvoo, and the citizens for a time supposed that it was 
fired by the Mormons, unwilling that the Gentiles should en- 
joy their work. But it has since transpired that the incendiary 
was one Joe Agnew, of Pontoosuc, fourteen miles above Nauvoo. 
Parties to whom he confessed revealed it after his death. He 
had suffered at the hands of tlie Mormons, and was determined 
" no trace of them should remain on the soil of Illinois." He 
broke in at a window in the southeast corner of the basement, 
whence a stairway led into the steeple. The hurricane of 



REFLECTIONS. 



697 




NAUVOO MILITIA AND "GENERAL" JOSEPH SMITH. 

1850 threw down most of the walls, and prevented it from 
being refitted. From the deck of a Mississippi steamer Nau- 
voo, which once had fourteen thousand inhabitants, now looks 
like a suburb of retired country seats, stretching for two or three 
miles up a handsome slope ; and thousands yearly pass on the 
river admiring tlie rural beauty of the place, but little thinking 
that a quarter of a century since it was the largest city in Illi- 
nois, and the most notorious in America, the chosen stronghold 
of a most peculiar faith and destined capital of a vast religious 
empire. 

Thence by steamer to Burlington, Iowa; and by regular 
course of rail to Sioux City, which I found much improved 
in the year since I had last seen it, but now, like all of Iowa, 
blazing with political excitement. Thence to Yankton, by stage, 
I found the country with signs of considerable improvement 
over the previous year. Eastern and southeastern Dakota con- 
tain 30,000 square miles of the richest farming land in the 



698 NORTHERN DAKOTA. 

world, at least half of it yet open to the pre-emptur; and nearly 
all of it to the settler. A fertile area about the size of Indiana 
contains a population of only 20,000. The objection commonly 
urffed is the cliuuite : but this need not deter the native of our 
Northern States. Those who have settled there do not find it 
excessively rigorous. The corresponding parts of Iowa and 
Minnesota have proved well adapted to the development of 
man; and with the healthful air of Dakota, while the material 
is not wanting, we may say : 

" Man is the nobler growth our realms supply ; 
And souls are ripened in our Northern sky." 

The railroad is now completed from Sioux City to Yankton. 
We found it difficult to decide on our route to the Northern 
Pacific. Stages run up the eastern side of the Territory to 
Sioux Falls; but from there extends an uninhabited region for 
a hundred and fifty miles, to the railroad crossing of Red River. 
Next it was suggested that we take steamer up the jMissouri to 
the crossing, whence it was only seventy-five miles eastward to 
the end of tiie track. 

Northern Dakota is in the North /?itemperate zone, if I may 
judge from my experience of it; but late settlers in Red River 
Valley, mostly from Northern Europe, pronounce the climate 
delightful, and have succeeded in producing all the grains of 
the temperate regions, particularly wlieat and rye. The Terri- 
tory claims to have the most moral and industrious settlers in 
the West, and the meanest politicians in the world ; and, from 
what I saw, I think the claim must be allowed. About one- 
third of the Federal officials are half the time at Washington, 
trying to get another third removed. The remaining third are 
neutral ; and, like political neutrals generally, have to fight both 
factions. There were three Republican parties and a faction at 
my last visit; and tlie political heat of the Nation at large was 
as the balminess of a May morning, compared to the consuming 
wrath of Dakota parties. The standard of morality may be 
guessed from the fact that one official boasted openly of the 
amount of money he had made as Indian Agent, and how, clos- 
ing with this pithy paraphrase of Lake Erie Perry, " We have 



fn|i|ifpwii!r"f''^""''™wi""^i " RT^v^ 



i if * 



iliuiLiliUllli:iIllliiliullMillIiltiiu.iluiUM>ijlll«i^:£!icA;uri^ 




699 



700 . 



"one-legged fight." 




PEOPLE OF PEMBIXA, AND THEIR OX-CARTS. 



met the Injins; and what was theirs is ours." Another, a 
Judge of the Supreme Court, who walks on two cork-legs, in a 
public speech in Yankton, made scandalous charges against the 
wife of a soldier employed in the Land Office. The soldier, 
who had but one leg, attacked the Judge at Vermilion City, 
and what the Sioux City Journal characterized as a " One-legged 
Fight" was the result. The first onslaught literally knocked 
the Judge "off his pins," and the soldier falling on him, loos- 
ened his own wooden leg, and then ensued a scene which called 
for the pen of a "Phoenix" and the pencil of a Darlfey : two 
manly bodies rolling on the floor, and four hands clenched or 
striking wildly, with one solitary leg attached. Unfortunately, 
" His Honor" (?) survived, to shed further luster on the Federal 
Courts of Dakota. 

In 18G8 the Territory had five candidates for Delegate to 
Congress ; and out of 5200 votes the successful man only re- 
ceived some 1300. Two years after, there were but three can- 
didates, and the same in 1872; both resulted in Hon. M. K. 
Armstrong, Democrat, being elected, in spite of an overwhelm- 



DAKOTA POLITICIANS. 701 

ing Republican majority. With 150,000 square miles of surface, 
Dakota has the population of an average county in Ohio ; and 
most men would not consider its offices worth much. The sad 
fact is this : Government cannot afford good men in office in 
most of the Territories ; the salary is so much less than they 
can make at any legitimate business. With this pencil I can 
earn a salary equal to that of any Territorial Governor; a 
young man making a hundred dollars a month in Cincinnati is 
richer than the Chief Justice of Utah ; and the Police Judge 
of Evansville, Indiana, makes double the clear money of the 
best paid official from Pembina to Arizona. 

And worst of all, Avheu they try to do their duty, they are 
almost certain to be removed before they learn how. For an 
Eastern man is worth very little his first year or two in any 
Territory. The official, if honest, is exposed to a constant 
pressure from those ruled over, and a constant war on the Presi- 
dent to have him removed. If he had no care but doing his 
duty, he would still have trouble enough ; but efficiency and 
duty are no dependence upon the favor of the Administration ; 
and while the official in the Territory is harassed by complaints, 
by a salary insufficient for himself and family, by the damning 
criticisms or equally damning overpraise of the local press, he 
is more and more disquieted by notes from his friends at Wash- 
ington, where the fiat of Executive wrath hangs daily over his 
official head, like the ever trembling sword of Damocles sus- 
pended by a single hair. There are men in every Territorial 
capital who turn uneasily upon their beds from some dark hint 
in the evening paper, and whose matin slumbers are disquieted 
by anxiety for the morning paper to see " the latest from Wash- 
ington." Let certain Members and Senators die, or resign, or 
be defeated, or differ with the President on some pet scheme, 
and away their heads would go like pins from the alley ; and 
the more they had done their duty the more they might expect 
decapitation. That a man who already lives in the West should 
want an office there seems reasonable enough ; but that one who 
has a good business in the States should want to leave it for 
such a position rather puzzles me. 



702 



" KEY WEST." 




At the last moment our party decided not to go up the INIis- 
souri River, as tlie shortest time any steamer could promise at 
this season was ten days, and avc might be much longer in 
reaching the North Pacific Railroad crossing. By rail through 
Minnesota had at least the merit of certainty, and we, therefore, 
left Yankton at daybreak on the 12th, by the steamer Key 
West, which had lain at the landing all night; for steamers, 
for the most part, only run by daylight or bright moonlight 
everywhere above Sioux City. This was the best season ever 
known f )r boating on the Upper Missouri, and boats were 
able to reach Benton, Montana Territory, until September. 
Three years out of four, Benton can not be reached later than 
the first of August, and often only during the "June rise." 

Tlic Key West had been this trip to Fort Peck, from which 
point there is a tolerably good wagon road to Helena and all 
Eastern Montana. Her capacity is four hundred tons, about 
the largest boat employed in this navigation ; as the tortuous 
and shifting ehannel of the Missouri requires steamers of very 



TOPOGRAPHY. 703 

light draught and peculiar construction. On lier up trip siie 
carried groceries and machinery for the mining camps of 
Eastern Montana, as also supplies for the military posts along 
the river ; down stream she was lightly loaded, but had a fair 
complement of passengers, mostly from the " Crossing," as the 
point where the North Pacific Railroad strikes the river is 
generally known in the Northwest. The boat preceding the 
Key West carried thirty Indians from the Sioux bands above, 
going down to Washington, for one of those periodical "Talks 
with the Great Father." 

By stage from Yankton to Sioux City is sixty-five miles, and 
the fare $6.50 ; by steamer, the distance is a hundred and fifty, 
and the fare fifty cents less, with the added advantage of three 
or four meals, and conveniences for sleeping and reading. The 
time is just as it happens: you must start when the boat is 
ready, and take your chances on board, sometimes getting 
through in ten hours, sometimes in thirty. We made splendid 
time all forenoon, the low clay banks receding so rapidly that 
their natural ugliness was changed to a swiftly gliding view of 
something nearly like beauty. The Avater is a little thicker 
than cream, but not quite as thick as plaster, and of a dirty 
yellow color, its solid contents consisting of nearly equal parts 
of fine clay and silt ; but when taken aboard and settled, it is 
very palatable. Immediately on the river, the timber is small 
and scrubby, but a mile or so back are fine forests of good- 
sized trees, extending a mile or two in width, and behind them 
the richest prairie " bottom " in the world, varying in width 
from five to twenty miles, and yielding to gentle foot-hills and 
wooded bluffs. In three or four places the river spreads to a 
mile or more in width, broken by sand-bars and low islands; 
there the boat usually stuck fast for a while, till the hands 
could "pole off," when she would back out and try another 
channel, and then another, till one was found passable. 

On such occasions the captain cheered us up witli appropriate 
remarks : " D — d channel was on that side when I came up. 
Thought the river would take a sky-wash around the other 
"way, judging from the set agin that bluff. But there's nothing 



704 " SIOUX CITY." 

impossible under this Administration. Howsomever, we'll 
reach Sioux City by 5 o'clock, if we don't fall down," which 
last I judge to be a facetious reference to our sparring off with 
the " boat's crutches." But we did " fall down " just at noon, 
runninff hard aground on the head of a sand-island. Then 
oaths, spars, " nigger-engine " and all the other available 
machinery was set in operation ; and after two hours of swear- 
ing, bell ringing, and toil, tlie stern was got for enough into 
the current to swing around ; then all control of it was lost, 
and that end grounded below. Then the bow was shoved off, 
swung around and stuck again; then the stern made a half- 
circle swing, and thus on, in a series of swings and " drags," 
over half-sunken trees, the boat groaning through all her 
timbers like a thing possessed, we made a final swing off the 
lower end of the island, and floated on. When they spar thus 
on both sides, they are said to *' grasshopper over." Such is 
boating on the Upper Missouri. 

We reached Sioux City at 9 p. m., sixteen hours from Yank- 
ton, and early next morning took the Dubuque and Sioux City 
Railroad for the " Junction," so-called, though there Mas no 
junction yet. The Sioux City and St. Paul Railroad track 
was then within ten miles of the Dubuque and Sioux City line, 
which gap passengers traversed by stage. The Dubuque and 
Sioux City Railroad is known everywhere in Iowa as the 
Illinois Central, being leased by that company. It runs north- 
east from Sioux City for twenty-five miles, to Le Mars, 
whence the Sioux City and St. Paul continues in a northeast 
direction. For twenty-five miles they are to use the same 
track. The last-named road results from the union of two 
companies : one building tiie Sioux City and St. Paul road, 
northeastward from the former city, the other the St. Paul 
and Sioux City road from the last city. They meet at 
the State Line, and were completed in two weeks after I 
passed. 

We traveled all afternoon over a country with the same 
general character : a high rolling prairie, without sloughs, with 
very rich soil and rank grass, but no timber in sight. The 



"MINNESOTA." 705 

" summit level " between the waters running northward and 
southward abounds in lakes, but before 3 p. M. we got down 
upon the slopes leading to the Minnesota River, and soon 
thereafter left the " Land of the Sleepyheads " for the land of 
"Blue Waters" — Minnesota. 

4;-) 




CHAPTER XXXIII. 

MINNESOTA. 

My stepmother — An impecunious youth — Trials of poverty — I drive for excur- 
sion parties — Not a success — My Canadian friends — Eeturn home — Mankato — 
Crystal Lake — Garden City — The cabin of my friends — My old employer — 
Down to St. Paul — The State Fair — Northward by rail— Lumbermen — Big 
Lake — St. Cloud — Sauk Rapids — Great water-power — Northward stage — The 
Lady Superior — Belle Prairie — Converting Indians — We reach Brainerd. 

I 

INNESOTA was my fair but cruel stepmother. For in 
that new State I made my first independent venture 
away from home; and some reminescences of my life there 
might serve as lessons to the young and ardent. In 
May, 1859, I first became a "Gopher" — practical 
Western title of the Minnesotians. On the 2d of that month I 
left Rockville, Indiana, with the magnificent sum of |33.50 in 
ray pockets. I was just out of college, in miserable health, and 
as ignorant of business as it is possible to conceive. I had never 
been away from home alone, and fancied the above sum would 
amply suffice until I could get something to do ; reached St. 
Paul on the 24th of May, and next day struck out northward 
with $8.50 of my cash still on hand. 

Then was the very worst period of the noted "hard times" 
in this State. It had been settled with the usual humbug and 
hurrah of the "glorious, free and boundless West," in 1856 and 
1857; everything was selling at three or four times its actual 
value, and every second man was a millionaire in town lots. 
Most of the people had come by neighborhoods from New York 
and New England, and freely indorsed for each other to any 
desired extent. The crash came and they were like a row of 
bricks, each one knocking down the next all around the circle. 
In June, 1857, everybody was rich ; in October they gazed upon 



MISFORTUNES. 



707 



the ruin of their paper houses, and every man rushed off to his 
lawyer to sue his neighbor, compromise with his creditors, or 
"put his property out of his hands." Every important town 
got into a squabble about the title to the town site, and lawyers 
reaped big harvests in fee bills ; but could not get the cash, and 
were dunned by the washerwoman with thousands in unpaid 
bills in their desks. The laws of two Legislatures conflicted ; 
one Judge overruled or denied the jurisdiction of another Judge; 
Courts of Equity in the afternoon enjoined proceedings directed 
by Courts of Law in the fore- 
noon ; injunctions and re- 
straining orders tied up every- 
thing and everybody, and the 
weary way of contending 
claimants for town sites lay 
across a pocket- wasting desert 
of litigation, diversified at in- 
tervals by mountains of fee 
bills, and graveled with cer- 
iioraris, nisi jjriuses, and 
writs of error. The Demo- 
cratic Legislature of 1858 
burdened the young State 
with an enormous debt, which 
the succeeding Legislature 
(Republican) repudiated; and, 
I believe, most of it is yet 
unpaid. 

On all this came the grass- 
hoppers. The crop of 1856 was half destroyed, and the next 
year every green thing, and every head of ripe grain, was eaten 
clean ; the insects leaving the country black and bare behind 
them. In 1858 a tolerable crop was raised, but everything that 
could be sold had to go to pay taxes and judgments of foreign 
creditors, and when I arrived the people were living on what 
they could not sell, to wit: corn -bread, potatoes and "green 
truck," to which, in the country, was generally added milk and 




THE AUTHOR, BEING IN FEEBLE 
HEALTH, GOES TO MINNESOTA. 



708 



HARD WORK — POOR PAY. 



butter — a wonderful help. For six weeks I worked for my 
hoard — not a cent of wages — for one man in Wright County ; 
and the whole time never tasted tea, coffee, flour-bread, meat, 
or any one of the things we consider "square feed" in Indiana. 
Our standard living was corn-bread, " Dutch cheese," butter 
and milk, to which, on Saturdays, was added a mess of fish 
from the lake, when work was not too pressing; and after 
strawberries and wild tomatoes came in the whole family usually 
took to the prairie on Sunday and " browsed." The income 

that year was mostly from 
the sale of ginseng. 

I liad walked nearly a 
hundred miles northward 
from St. Paul looking for a 
school ; turned back from 
Princeton, (h? last settlement, 
and crossed the Mississippi to 
Wright County, being re- 
duced to my last half dollar 
before I began at board wages. 
From there I footed it to St. 
Paid, and got work in Ford's 
nursery at forty cents a day ! 
At the end of ten days all the 
" little men " were discharged 
for larger men, who " would 
do more and work cheaper." 
A party of us decided to go 
south till we got to where 
harvest was ripe, then har- 
vest northward with the season. In pursuance of this plan, I 
sold all my clothes I could not carry in a hand valise, and thus 
raised money enough to go two hundred miles up the Minne- 
sota River to Blue Earth County. Striking south from Man- 
kato, I found the harvest ripe and spoiling for hands ; but to 
my application the uniform answer was, "Not a cent o' money; 
can pay you in lumber or wheat." Lumber and wheat would 




THE AUTIIOU, BEING FEEBLE IN 
POCKET, RETURNS FROM MIN- 
NESOTA. 



SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS. 709 

not pay my passage out of Minnesota, whence I had resolved to 
go before cold weather, and it was then the second week in 
August. 

Finally, one William Long, near Garden City, " thought he 
could raise five dollars 'fore I'd want to leave." I helped him 
harvest and make hay, but the money he could not raise. 
Thence I went up the Watonwan River, and shoveled gravel 
on a mill-dam for forty cents a day ; but gave out the third day, 
minus some ten square inches of palm cuticle. Then I tried a 
livery stable; drove carriage and the like for excursionists vis- 
iting the country, for some two weeks, when, to my surprise, I 
was peremptorily discharged. Being but a boy, I lacked the 
judgment to keep still, and often entered freely into conversation 
with my passengers, without knowing just how to assume that 
naturally deferential air which is thought to be due from him 
who holds the reins to the one who sits beside or behind him. 

For, if you imagine, kind reader, that political equality makes 
social, or civil, or any other kind of equality, you only demon- 
strate that you are an innocent pastoral in the dry fields of 
politics and social philosophy ; and that you are almost as ignor- 
ant as was your servant, the writer, at the age of nineteen, in 
the year of grace 1859. In a variety of positions I have since 
discovered that social distinctions are as natural and inevitable 
under a republican as a monarchical government; and when, 
during the " Reconstruction Period," the souls of the fearful 
were disquieted by the sleep-murdering spectre of "negro 
equality," I was calm as a summer morning. For I reasoned 
with myself thus: Have I not been a servant, and an employe 
in many positions ; and do I not know that voting never pro- 
duced any social equality among whites? How, then, can it 
between whites and blacks? 

But I digress. My freedom oifended somebody, and thereby 
I lost my lucrative position. Moral : Never know more than 
your business demands. 

After that I went wild, so to speak, and lived awhile with 
two Canadian half-breeds on the shore of Loon Lake. We 
worked in their little patch about half of each day, hunted and 



710 GOOD FARM LAND IN MINNESOTA. 

iished the rest of the time, lived on game and corn bread, and 
made the night hideous, often till the "small hours," with our 
songs, dances, and barbarous patois. I lost my hat the first * 
night I was with them ; hadn't a cent to buy another ; went 
without two weeks or so, and got as brown as a hazel-nut. 
Loon Lake was then the western limit of settlement ; now the 
railroad passes only four miles west of where our cabin stood, 
and the population of the county has grown from five to twenty- 
two thousand. 

Late in September Mr. Long borrowed five dollars from a 
Mr. Baker, formerly Auditor of State in Ohio, and then a can- 
didate for the same office in Minnesota; paid the sum to me, 
and I struck out afoot for St. Paul. Strange to say, my health 
rapidly improved through all my ups and downs, and I had 
become reconciled to staying in Minnesota. But the new State 
just then did not want men Avithout capital, unless they had an 
immense amount of muscle, and were willing to use it for little 
or nothing. 

In these new countries it is pure Darwinism — " natural selec- 
tion and survival of the fittest." I was not the fittest, and did 
not survive as a citizen of Minnesota ; but returned quite con- 
tentedly to my college, and there remained till I was of age, 
when the war gave me another opportunity to leave home with 
credit. 

I thought Minnesota the most beautiful State in the Union ; 
and during the short farming season, it is certainly the 7iicest 
State to farm in. I speak of the mere pleasure of working in 
the ground. The land is never water-soaked, never " bakes," 
and I never saw a clod as big as my fist. There is no " sour 
clay" land; it is nearly all black and loose, with just sufficient 
mixture of sand to make it warm rapidly and pulverize beauti- 
fully. The season in springy is astonishingly rapid. 

There are many popular errors as to the comparative advan- 
tages of warm and cold climates. Carolinians think it cold 
enough where they are, and a little too sharp in Virginia; the 
F. F. V's wonder how the farmer can get through the winters 
in New York ; while the Yankee shudders as he thinks of the 



CLIMATE. 711 

hard fate of the " Canucks " and " Blue-noses " of British 
America. But in these Northern latitudes people know just 
what is coming, and prepare for it ; there will be no let-up from 
the middle of November to the middle of April, and winter 
travel is even more important and better provided for than 
summer. In Benton county, Minnesota, in the winter of 
1871-2, they had a hundred and thirty-four days continuous 
sleighing. The winters are long, cold and dry ; the river forms 
ice three or four feet thick, supporting the heaviest teams safely ; 
no "January thaw" need be apprehended, and it is the unani- 
mous testimony of young people that they enjoy the winters 
much more than the summers. The snow remains till about 
April 1 or 10, then disappears all at once, apparently ; the 
ground is dry in a week, and summer succeeds winter so rapidly 
as to leave scarcely a month for the intervening spring. The 
local records show that the Minnesota seasons should be divided 
thus: winter, five months; spring, one month; summer, four 
months ; and autumn, two months. The soil will be found to 
suit the climate. If this section had the heavy clays of Southern 
Indiana, it would produce nothing ; but with the prevailing 
black sandy loam the crops are immense. " Snow is the poor 
man's manure," and the soil that is frozen hardest in winter will 
pulverize finest in summer. Here, after twenty-four hours' rain, 
the plowman returns to his work without waiting for a " dry- 
up ; " and in the haste of spring work they frequently " break 
up " the south slopes while the snow is still lying on the north 
slopes. Wheat, rye, buckwheat, turnips and potatoes are the 
leading productions. In the first and last Minnesota leads the 
world. From two to four hundred bushels per acre is the yield 
of potatoes. The Sauk Yalley particularly excels in this line, 
and in 1859 several fields exceeded the last figures. It used to 
be said at that time that they "grew as thick in the entire 
ground, for a foot deep, as their round shape would permit them 
to lie ; and if some one could invent a square or brick-shaped 
variety, the whole soil might be grown to a solid mass of 
potatoes ! " 

The summer heat is intense for about one month, during 




712 



THE WEATHER. 713 

which time the black, sandy soil will blister the bare feet. In 
the early spring a single warm day will keep the crops growing 
two or thi'ee days of cold winds. In June, at the point where 
I resided, the sun shone nearly sixteen hours a day ; and the 
early and late twilight made the day last from 3.20 a. m. till 
8.40 p. M. During the latter part of that month the prairie 
wind alone tempered the air sufficiently for us to work ; and if 
it fell dead calm even for an hour we generally "fell" with it — 
in the shade. I kept a regular diary that year, and the follow- 
ing extracts will indicate the rapidity of the seasons: 

" May 25 — Cold rain, chilly winds. 

" May 28— Clear and cool. 

" Mav 30 — Pleasant, and gainino^ warmth. 

"June 5 — Settled summer weather. 

"June 15 — Prairie flowers all in bloom. 

" June 25 — Intense heat ; strawberries nearly formed. Heavy 
thunder shower, with most vivid lightning, just after sunset; 
cooled the air considerably. 

" July 4 — A cooling rain. All families in the township gath- 
ered at house of J. Smith ; had music, some dancing, and a 
dinner of ham, eggs and rice-pudding — quite a treat for Minne- 
sota. 

"July 8 — Very hot weather again; strawberries beginning 
to turn. 

"July 12 — First mess of ripe strawberries. 

"July 14 — Early vegetables begin to be used. 

" August 1 — Hottest weather seems to be past. Learn that 
harvest is ripe in the southern counties, and conclude to start. 

"August 20 — (In Blue- Earth County) — Finished cutting 
wheat; fine crop, but no market. Early roasting-ears; can- 
teloupes ripe on east side of Blue-Earth River. 

"September 1 — Making marsh hay. Corn hardening fast; 
all kinds of melons ripe, and most gone. 

" September 18 — Heavy frost, apparently all over the county, 
destroying buckwheat; no other crop particularly injured. 
Nights getting very cool. 

" September 28 — Thin ice on water ; thermometer down to 



714 OLD FRIENDS. 

28° this morning. Splendid appetite ; weigh ten pounds more 
than when I came to Minnesota. Started afoot for St. Paul." 

The crops were good that year, but there was no market, and 
the people continued poor. The past season farmers in tluit 
county paid from three to four dollars per day for harvest hands, 
and found a ready market at good prices in Mankato. 

On nearing that place I was anxious to see some of my old 
acquaintances in poverty, and left the railroad at the beautiful 
village of Lake Crystal — so named from the pretty sheet of 
water, four miles west of Loon Lake. I made the best of time 
to the spot where my Canadians' cabin used to stand, but not a 
trace of it was visible. The very tree under which I used to 
sit I could identify ; but the whole neighboring region, then an 
unbroken prairie, is now parceled out in splendid farms, and 
beautifully improved with neat cottages and tasteful gardens. I 
hunted the " oldest settler," who told me Avith some pride that 
he had been here ten years. (Bah ! what a set of moderns they 
are, compared with " us pioneers ! ") He had heard of my two 
friends : one of them went to Nebraska with the Winnebagoes, 
when they were removed from here ten years ago ; and the other 
joined the First Minnesota, and " was never heard of after Bull 
Run." Proceeding on to Garden City, I found that 1 was " in- 
deed a stranger in the land." My old employer was still there, 
but he had been on the losing side in the long drawn out legal 
fight over the town site, and was now poorer than then, if 
possible. 

Much to ray regret I found that the railroad had missed most 
of ray old friends ; the country had improved, but they had 
lost heart in the long, early struggle, and did not profit by the 
change. Said ]\Ir. Long to me, as we sat at his table next 
morning, " It was raighty tight tiraes with us, gittin' thro' the 
winter after you left (1859-60). It jest seemed like we must 
go under sometimes. Then when all had got a good start came 
the Sioux Massacre, in 1862, and ruined us agin. I fit one 
whole day at New Ulm. It was awful. There was seven 
hundred women and children in the one big stone hotel, and 
them Dutch, as didn't know how to load and fire a gun, hid in 



HARD TIMES. 



715 





v--^ 



ST, PAUL. 



cellars all around, and about sixty of us fightin' a thousand 
Soos; they had us completely whipt, if they'd only known it. 
Kept burnin' tlie town as they come in. Folks moved up here 
on Blue Earth River and back again to the fort at Mankato, 
four or five times tliat fall. Some family murdered every time, 
and then they'd all run back. Killed the Jewetts only two 
miles from me." And so ran tlie report of most of my old 
friends: part killed by the Sioux, part died in the army, many 
moved back East before the "■ hard times" were over, and of 
all the pioneers not one in ten remained. The little schoolmis- 
tress from Maine, who was then the only belle in our neighbor- 
hood, with another young lady and two young men of my 
acquaintance, were murdered by the Sioux quite late in 1862, 
and long after the trouble was thought to be over. 

The Winnebago Reservation, twenty-three miles by thirteen, 
then unbroken by the plow, is now a rich and populous farming 



716 ST. PAUL. 

district ; and Mankato, then a straggling village of six or eight 
hundred, is now a flourishing city of" five thousand people. But 
the effects of the "hard times" of 1857-59 still remain in many 
places, in the shape of interminable lawsuits, unsettled titles, 
broken fortunes, neighborhood feuds, and men whose energy is 
gone and their temper soured by disappointment ; many a Min- 
nesota woman is prematurely old from the troubles of that 
period, and even in the faces of those I then knew as children 
I fancy I can see some pinching lines which ought not to mark 
the visage of blooming youth, unpleasing reminders of a child- 
hood passed without its natural pleasures, and often stinted 
because of parental poverty. 

Thence to St. Paul, down the beautiful and fertile valley of 
the Minnesota, I saw everywhere delightful evidences of a great 
improvement since I footed it along the same line in Sej)tember, 
1859. Hamlets then are large towns now; unimportant 
towns have grown to cities. Everywhere was heard the hum 
of busy life and Yankee industry; and mingled with it, just at 
that time, was the roar of political excitement. St. Paul aston- 
ished me. Except near the river I recognized none of the 
places familiar in my memory. Twenty thousand visitors were 
in the city, attending the State Fair; and on the grounds were 
specimens of vegetation from every spot for seven hundred 
miles north and west. Notable among these were bunches of 
wild rice from the northern lakes ; monster turnips and beets 
from the line of the Northern Pacific; native grass from Red 
River Valley, four feet long, and wheat grown at Fort Garry, 
Red River Settlement, B. A., which yielded seventy bushels 
per acre. St. Paul is in the southeastern corner, and is the 
natural entreput of a wheat-growing region four hundred miles 
square. Fertile land continues to a point two hundred miles 
north of our national boundary ; there a sandy desert sets in, 
and continues to the Arctic Circle. 

Our party continued to change the programme at each suc- 
cessive point of departure, as the latest intelligence continued 
to o-row more discouraging in regard to the Missouri River navi- 
gation. The final plan was to go up the eastern side of the 



ST. ANTHONY. 



717 




FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY, 



Mississippi, by rail and stage, to Brainerd ; thence westward to 
the terniinus of the Northern Pacific, and perhaps into the Bad 
Lands, then eastward to Duliith, and down again to St. Paul. 
Accordingly, on tlie evening of the 19th, after a day on the State 
Fair Grounds, I took the up train on the Brainerd Branch of 
the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. The main line crosses the 
Mississippi at St. Anthony — vulgato voce, " S'nanthony" — and 
Minneapolis, whence it maintains a general course northwest, 
being completed to Breckinridge, at a point on lied River fifty 
miles south of the North Pacific Railroad crossing. Besides 
these lines, that which is popularly known as the Pembina 
Branch crosses the Mississi])pi at St. Cloud, and runs westward 
some twenty miles into Stearns County. Along the very line 
where, in May, 1859, I footed it, valise in hand, I enjoy the 
comforts of a first-class passenger car, and find St. Cloud, then 



718 " LOGGING CAMPS." 

the northern limit of white occupation, now a flourishing city 
of some two thousand people, and considered rather in the cen- 
tral part of the State. 

For a few miles out of 8t. Paul the country is not very at- 
tractive, that county (Ramsey) being the least im])ortant agri- 
culturally in Central Minnesota. It is rather hilly, for the most 
part, with a light sandy soil ; but the advance in real estate near 
St. Paul has been remarkable — about 300 per cent. M'ithin the 
last five years, and over 1000 per cent, since 1859. Our long 
train of passenger cars was densely crowded, all the standing 
room taken, with people returning from the State Fair; but 
most of them left us at the St. Anthony Junction. From there 
northward the country rapidly grows more beautiful and fertile, 
presenting that strange feature of the Minnesota landscape known 
as "oak openings." A traveler from the East is apt to fancy 
himself in an old orchard, the trees being scattered about in the 
same proportion, very little larger and with coarse grass between 
them. These openings, alternating with clear prairie, form the 
landscape for about a hundred miles northward, then tiie heavy 
pine forests begin and extend from one to two hundred miles 
farther. All the main affluents of tiie Mississippi from the east 
take their rise in these forests, and form natural channels by 
which the lumber is brought to market. The lumbermen spend 
the long winter in the " logging camps," getting out and hauling 
the logs to the nearest stream ; then, when the spring rise oc- 
curs, each company comes down on a " drive," hunting such 
logs as have lodged along the way, and giving them a fresh 
start in the current. Every "boss" has his own particular 
mark cut in the bark ; and the whole mass is caught in the va- 
rious "booms" near St. Paul, formed into immense rafts, and 
taken down the Mississippi. In 1859, when I lived upon the 
banks of that river, in Wright County, there were never less 
than a hundred logs in sight, and we generally knew of a coming 
"drive" a day or two beforehand, by the increase of "floaters." 
The business is always hard and laborious, sometimes very dan- 
gerous; for occasionally logs will catch on the head of a low, 
rocky island, and form a "jam," containing many thousands. 



MINNESOTA AND HER LAKES. 719 

In such a case several "drives " often unite; there is generally 
what is called a " key-log," and by attaching a rope thereto 
the whole mass is loosened. Climbing over the "jam/' hunting 
for this " key-log/' and loosening it, is a most perilous business, 
as the whole mass often gives away at once, and rolls down into 
the water in a few minutes. I saw a "jam " just above the 
Copperhead Rapids, near Anoka, which was estimated as con- 
taining 25,000 logs, and the loosening of a single one freed the 
entire mass. Travelers coming down the river often made use 
of these logs, and in July, 1859, I made forty-five miles in one 
day, on two I had pinned together, using a pole and paddle for 
steering. Quincy, Illinois, was then the great market for this 
lumber. 

Anoka, at the mouth of Rum River, which was a modest 
hamlet when I last saw it, now appeared from the car windows 
to be a thriving place of at least two thousand people. Thence 
northward to Big Lake Ave traverse a gently rolling prairie, 
diversified occasionally with " oak openings," and dotted with 
those clear, white-bottomed lakes which add such a charm to 
Minnesota. The State has ten thousand lakes, varying in size 
from five acres to five miles square. In every part of America, 
as will be seen by a glance at the map, the lake region is on the 
" summit level," the reason of which is easily seen. Minnesota 
is on the great " summit level " of the continent, her waters 
flow out in four different directions ; hence there are more lakes 
here, probably, than in all the other States. But even here the 
process of natural drainage still goes on to a slight extent ; 
lakes are becoming marshes, and marshes slowly receding to 
"water-meadows," and I find that two or three considerable 
flats of shallow water I knew in 1859 are now dry. 

I stopped a day at Big Lake, as it was in the nighborhood I 
formerly ranged. Monticello is just on the opposite side of the 
river in Wright County, and near there I worked on one farm 
some six weeks ; but of all the Americans I knew there, not 
one remains. My old employer, Mr. Randall Smith, served 
through the war as a captain, then settled in the South, " tired 
of a country where ye have to feed stock seven months in the 



720 EARLY PIONEERS LOSE MONEY. 

year." Others lost heart in the long continued " hard times " 
and moved baciv East ; still others were dead — some, I fear, of 
continued disappointment — and a few had gone " farther West." 
Of all with whom I lived and worked, I could hear of but one 
or two who had lasted through the "hard times" and come 
out with bright hopes. And every year of ray Western expe- 
rience convinces me that the real "pioneers" seldom or never 
make the big profits in a new country. It is the second "inva- 
sion," those who come in with money after the "pioneers" 
have lost heart, who reap the richest harvest. The " old set- 
tler " comes with but a moderate amount of cash — men move 
West because they want money, not because they have it — and 
when he has paid for his claim and got up a cabin he is at the 
end of his resources. Then if there come short crops for two 
or three years, or "tight times" from other causes, it takes him 
years to "get round ;" and nine times out of ten before he does 
"get round," he is willing to sell out for much less than his 
place cost him. Everywhere on the border in Kansas and 
Nebraska, even in tolerably prosperous times, I found oppor- 
tunities to buy improved places at less cost than it would take 
to improve a new one. 

I took a day of rest in the delightful region about Sauk 
Rapids and St. Cloud, the latter on the Avestern side of the 
Mississippi, at the foot of the rapids, and two and a half miles 
below the former city. Back of St. Cloud the fertile Sauk 
Valley extends for fifty miles, and the country is also good for 
the same distance up the Mississippi ; but on the eastern side 
Sauk Rapids seems to be the northern boundary of first-class 
land. The town bids fair to become an important place for 
manufacturing, as the rapids supply the finest water-power, 
and the region for a hundred miles north and east is excellent 
for sheep. A company with abundant capital has been formed, 
and is just beginning an extensive system of works to utilize 
the rapids. The situation is very favorable ; the river channel 
is but a few feet below the general level of the country, and the 
firm rock bottom presents the best natural facilities for wing- 
dams. When I was there, in 1859, St. Cloud was considered 



"OEDER OF ST. FRANCIS." 721 

the head of final navigation, a class of light-draught steamers 
running between that point and the St. Anthony Falls ; but 
since then still smaller boats have been put on above the rapids, 
running to Brainerd, and in a few instances further. The 
Mississippi yields its greatness slowly, and even at a point a 
hundred miles above St. Paul, it is still a big river. 

At 2 p. M. of the 21st, we left Sauk Rapids — it ought to be 
called Sauk City, to distinguish it from the rapids — in a very 
uncomfortable, "jerky " stage, and struck directly northward. 
Our road lay along the east bank of the river, seldom a mile 
distant from the stream, and ran through a poor, sandy region, 
alternating scrubby timber and narrow prairies, covered with 
coarse grass. The cuts in the road and washes near it, showed 
the soil to be nowhere more than five or six inches deep. The 
grass starts early in the spring, and, rain being abundant, 
renews quickly after being cropped, but two or three years of 
cultivation Avear out the soil. Singularly enough all this region 
■was settled, and tolerably thickly, eighteen years before ; but 
nine-tenths of it was afterward abandoned, and it is only at rare 
intervals, in some low, fertile plat, that we see a farm house. 
There was a general disappointment in the soil ; it proved quite 
different from the black sandy loam of Wright County, and 
"wore out" rapidly. On the west side settlements appear 
numerous. Our little "jerky " carried ten passengers ; a lady 
and gentleman outside with the driver; inside six gentlemen 
and a Sister and Mother of the " Order of St. Francis." The 
last two were on their way to Belle Prairie to take charge of a 
Frontier Academy just established, and were most enthusiastic 
over their contemplated field of labor among Chippewas and 
half-breeds. The Mother Superior was a native English- 
woman, and the most intelligent one of her Order I ever met ; 
the Sister was an American lady from the South, lately con- 
verted to Catholicism : a widow, I judge from her account, and a 
Sister indeed ; oi^p who, yet in life's prime, had adopted a life of 
arduous toil on this lonesome frontier for simple devotion to an 
idea. When I meet these Sisters in the Far West, as I often 
did formerly in the army hospitals, I am compelled to a pro- 
46 



722 OBJECT OF THE ORDER. 

found respect; and the dog-mas of Infallibility or Immaculate 
Conception appear but small things in view of a life-time of 
self-denial. 

The day had been barely pleasant, and toward evening a cold 
wind came sweeping over the prairies, compelling us to muffle 
in our blankets and close the coach, as if for winter travel. 
But, soon after dark, we entered a body of larger timber ; then 
the air became calm, and at 9 o'clock the gibbous moon arose, 
throwing a flood of cheering light upon the dull landscape. All 
became more animated, and the IMother Superior, yielding to 
the general curiosity expressed as to her hopes of success among 
the Indians, gave ns an interesting account of her Order, its 
appointed work and her own life, while I listened with pleased 
surprise to hear the Indian and the educational question dis- 
cussed from such au unworldly point of view. The Order of 
St. Francis is devoted to the specific work of teaching, but in 
times of public calamity, such as war and pestilence, they be- 
come nurses. The Mother had resided many years in France 
ns teacher, but spent the wiiolc time of the Franco-Prussian 
war and a year after in the hospitals. There her health was in- 
jured, and she was sent to the Avllds of the Northwest to again 
become a teacher. To an emphatic statement from one pas- 
senger that " an Injun couldn't be converted," she replied : 
" O, perhaps not in my time, but surely soon, the race will come 
to know and embrace the truth. We work for God, and He 
will take care of it. If we convert one, it will pay us ten 
thousand fold." 

Towards midnight we reached their destination. Belle Prairie, 
consisting of a few cabins, a small school-house and little chapel 
near, its white cross gleaming in the cold moonlight — in that 
strange solitude a fit symbol of one of the ten thousand outposts 
of Rome. AVondrous, wide-extended power of Mother Church ! 
"Who can travel beyond the reach of her world-embracing arms? 
Alike on the banks of the St. Lawrence and«the Rio Grande I 
have seen the white cross of her chapels; and on the wild fron- 
tier and in the hut of the savage have met her hardy mission- 
aries, bronzed by every sun, and weather-beaten by the storms 



CROW WING. 



723 




MISSIONARY AMONG THE MINNESOTA INDIANS. 



of every. sky from Pembina to Arizona. Is it any wonder, 
considering her celibate clergy, who make the flock their family 
and the whole world their home, and her holy orders of devoted 
women to whom suffering and self-denial are sweet for the sake 
of the Church, is it any wonder that a quarter of a billion souls 
attest her power, and, to the reproach of us Protestants, nearly 
two-thirds of the Christian world — outside of Russia — still own 
allegiance to Pome ? 

A few miles farther brought us to Crow Wing, where we 
halted till 8 A. M. next day. This village appears in the last 
stages of dilapidation, though ten years ago it was the most im- 
portant place in U[)per Minnesota. It was the half-way place 
between the Indians and Whites, the great depot for Indian, 
goods, and enjoyed an extensive Government patronage. AH 
this has been removed far up the country, and of the fine 
farms which once surrounded the town, half or more have been 
"thrown out to the common." 

Thence an hour of rapid driving took us into the Black Pine 
Forest, in the center of which we found the "City of Brainerd" 
— on the Northern Pacific Pailroad at last. 




CHAPTER XXXIV. 

ON THE NORTHERN PACIFIC. 

Brainercl — The Pine forests of Minnesota — Sioux and Chippewas — Pahya Goon- 
sey — Detroit Lalces — Down to Red River — Mooreliead^ — Out to Jimtown — Red 
River Yalley — ■" The equinoctial storm" — Eastward again — Russian Quakers 
— Scandinavian settlers — Scenery on the St. Louis— Duluth — Emigration Com- 
panies — "Post Off" — Humbug of land circulars — Climate on the Northern 
Pacific — " Be not deceived " — The testimony experience of A. Toi^once, Esq. 
— Comments. 

RAINEE,D is emphatically a railroad town, but in two 
important particulars far superior to the new towns on 
the Union Pacific: it is built of the finest of lumber, and 
stands in a forest of slender pines. Except between the 
railroad track and Front Street the native pines are left 
standino; alono- the roadsides — the middle of the street only being; 
cleared — and thus all the side streets look like magnificent 
avenues. The St. Paul and Pacific road is already graded to 
this point, and as the junction of the two lines, the city has a 
prospect of future greatness. From the Rapids to Crow Wing 
the Mississippi was but a few feet below our road ; since then we 
have been coming up hill, and the stream at Brainerd runs in a 
considerable gorge. The Northern Pacific bridge west of the 
town is a magnificent structure, of three span — sixty feet each — 
and appears to me the best bridge I have seen in the West. 
The water of the river is not quite eighty yards wide, and said 
to be from five to ten feet deep. So it is no longer the Great 
River, and a hundred miles north would bring us into the midst 
of that circle of lakes, Itasca, Leech, Cass and Plantagenet, 
which form its source. This black pine is not the valuable pine 
of Minnesota; that js known generally as the Norway i)ine, and 
is divided into the white and vellow varieties. Beginning: a 
724 



THE CHIPPEWAS. 725 

little northeast of here, at least ten thousand square miles abound 
more or less with it. 

After a good dinner at "Headquarters," as the railroad houses 
on the Northern Pacific are called, I started out for a look at 
the town. I saw that no one was at work on the railroad build- 
ings ; that all the saloons were open and lively, and here and 
there a man had on a clean shirt, which suddenly reminded me 
that it was Sunday. In front of the principal saloon a baud of 
twelve or fifteen Chippewas were performing the " war dance" 
with an audience of whites. The only instruments were a tin 
drum and what appeared to be a buckskin tambourine ; at the 
end of each performance, the only " brave " who could speak 
English went around with a hat, addressing each white with 
" ten cents a raan-n-n, ten cents a man-n-n," while the next in 
rank delivered a fluent speech in the aboriginal tongue. Only a 
few rods away there was afternoon service at the Episcopal 
Church, the only one in the place. 

The Chippewas are much lighter in color than the Sioux, and 
bear some resemblance to the Navajoes in their physique ; but 
are far inferior to them in every element of civilization. They 
are simply low, degraded savages, who enslave their women and 
attempt no improvement — consequently in course of steady and 
rapid extinction. They had been at war with the Sioux from 
time immemorial, and the country from here to Crow Wing is 
historic ground to them as the scene of their greatest battle. 
North of town, near the river bank, are signs of rude intrench- 
ments and rifle-pits, of which the old voyageurs give this 
account : 

In 1827 all the available warriors of the Sioux Nation came 
on a grand campaign against the Chippewas ; and having met 
with no enemy for a hundred miles above here, were floating 
carelessly down the river. But the main body of the Chippewas 
was ambushed at various points between here and Crow Wing, 
while the advance guard occupied these rifle-pits under com- 
mand of the great Pahya Goonsey — the Napoleon of the North- 
west. As the Sioux came floating carelessly around the bend, a 
hundred rifles suddenly blazed from this cover, and forty Sioux 



726 GOOD TIMBER. 

fell dead from tlieir boats. But the remainder rallied, and suc- 
ceeded in effecting a landing, llunners were dispatched to 
brino" up their other parties, and a most desperate battle raged 
for four days, in which the Chippewas were five times driven 
back to Crow Wing, and as often regained their ground- 
Finally their last detachment arrived; they attacked the weak- 
ened Sioux, and soon drove them entirely beyond Red River, 
Avhich has ever since been the boundary between the two Nations. 
How bravely some of these old aborigines fought, and how 
little the world knows about it. They had no newspapers. 

" Vain was the chief's, the sage's pride ; 
Tliey had no poet — and thej^ died." 

We were off from Brainerd the next day, just as the cold air 
and lowering sky gave notice that the first touch of Indian sum- 
mer was over, and bad weather at hand. For about seventy- 
five miles westward of that place, the country on the Northern 
Pacific is rather below the average; the soil is sandy or swampy, 
the prairie almost barren, and the timber little more than the 
worthless black pine and tamarac. But after that a rapid im- 
provement is evident, and at Detroit Lake we seem to enter fairly 
upon the great and fertile valley of the Red River. For the last 
fifty miles, before reaching that stream, we moved down a scarcely 
perceptible slope, through a region of mingled prairie and tim- 
ber, with every indication of great natural fertility, and occasion- 
ally a nice improved farm. But settlements are scarce, and the 
few towns are nothing more than stations, with half a dozen or 
more of hastily extemporized cabins. The great advantage of 
the Northern Pacific in the article of timber is everywhere 
apparent. The commonest cabins are of good lumber, instead 
of the sod or adobe houses seen on the Union Pacific, and are 
surrounded by neat fences of plank or paling. Throughout 
this last division one sees no swamp land, but every few miles 
bring to view a clear, pretty lake, from a hundred yards to four 
or five miles in length. 

The passengers resident in the country tell me that in winter 
these lakes are frozen almost solid; and then is the best time 



CLIMATE OF MINNESOTA. 727 

for freighting-, as the sled routes take a straight track from point 
to point without regard to lakes, streams or sloughs. It is the 
general testimony that there is less snow in northern Minnesota 
than in the region one or two hundred miles south, though the 
air is colder ; but tiie little there is blows worse, and it is more 
dangerous to be '^ caught out." Frequently a broad prairie 
will be so bare as to render " logging" quite difficult, while in 
the narrow strips of timber the snow will be two or three feet 
deep. 

Moorehead, on the eastern bank of Red River, is the end of 
the passenger division on the road, and the nominal head of 
navigation ; but it is only in the months of June and July that 
any steamers run to that point. • Frog Point, sixty miles below 
(northward), is the head of navigation for the rest of the sum- 
mer, though boats rarely ply before the latter part of May. As 
Red River has a general course due north, the thaw occurs at 
the head first, and forces a great break up and massing of the 
ice down at Fort Garry and other ports in Winnepeg. But 
the railroad is fast pushing on to relieve this seven months' 
blockade. 

The "Pembina Branch of the St. Paul and Pacific" is 
located on a line bearing northwest from St. Cloud, crossing the 
Northern Pacific at Glyndon, seven miles east of Moorehead, 
and following thence down the eastern bank of Red River. 
While work on the lower end is suspended, or pushed but 
slowly, the road is already constructed and regular trains run- 
ning for a distance of eighty miles northward from Glyndon — 
a rather sino-ular instance of the middle section of a road beino: 
finished before either end makes connection. Freight and pas- 
senger steamers of two hundred tons burden ply pretty Regularly 
on Red River for five months in the year, and the travel from 
Manitoba and adjacent sections already takes this course. 
Limiting the fertile land to fifty miles on the east of Red River 
and twice as far on the west — and I am certain it does not ex- 
ceed that — we have the Red River Valley, with a width of one 
hundred and fifty miles, and length of over three hundred, 
comprising probably fifty thousand square miles of fertile land. 



728 PRODUCE. 

This must be the source of the prosperity of the Northern 
Pacific, for I am convinced that after one leaves Red River 
Valley, and begins to rise to the plateaus of western Dakota and 
Montana, barrenness is the rule and fertility the exception, even 
to the border of Oregon and Washington. This large fertile 
area will produce all the cereals in abundance, as well as turnips 
and potatoes, with a moderate amount of Indian corn. Wheat 
can be grown in Winnepeg to a point nearly two hundred miles 
north of our National boundary. Cranberries and wild plums 
are the only fruits I hear mentioned as " successful." 

Moorehead is a rather rough looking frontier town, consisting 
of rude frames and " shake-ups" of pine lumber, and containing 
perhaps five hundred people. Fargo, on the Dakota side of 
Red River, looks even more distressing, and, as I toiled through 
its streets on a windy morning, carrying my luggage from the 
end of the passenger division to the beginning of the construc- 
tion division, I felt an active sympathy for those who " have 
lots to sell." The river appears about the same size as the 
Mississippi at Brainerd, and flows due north with a gentle 
current. 

The country is being settled, where settled at all, by colonies 
generally, and most of them from northern Europe. At several 
of the principal towns the company has erected vast frame 
hotels, or, rather, reception and lodging houses, especially for 
the use of emigrants, and unusual facilities are afforded to for- 
eigners coming to seek homes. It is my conviction that native 
Americans will form but a small part of the future population 
of this great valley, and that the bulk of its people will be 
Scandinavians, with perhaps some Scotch and Russians. The 
latter people now have some agents out here looking for a loca- 
tion for a peculiar religious sect, who might be called Russian 
Quakers. They number several thousand, and refuse to bear 
arms ; the Czar has ordered them to fight, pay, or emigrate, and 
they have concluded to come to this region in a body. 

Straw-ticks, beef and potatoes could be had in either of the 
barn-like structures, serving as hotels, in Moorehead, for two 
dollars per day ; but there was nothing to be seen requiring 



EMIGRATION. 729 

more than one night's stay. Omnibuses go no farther ; so we 
carried our own baggage nearly a mile across the bridge, and 
through Fargo to the construction train, on which we traversed 
the last hundred miles. The "Equinoctial storm" had just got 
down to actual business, dealing cold rain, wind and sleet, when 
we started westward at 10 A. M. For fifty miles the country 
appears as level as the calm ocean ; the eye can not discern the 
slightest incline in the general surface, except at the Shyene and 
another stream ; and through all this distance the rank grass 
above, and the black soil below, marking two feet deep in the 
few cuts, indicated great fertility. We jogged along at eight or 
ten miles an hour, with thirty platform cars loaded with ties and 
iron, w'hich gave me fair time to look at the country from the 
caboose. About noon the cold rain ceased, and I tried it to the 
next " siding" on top of the flat cars, in order to get a better 
view. The time was two hours, and I was heartily glad to get 
inside again ; the heavy wind from the northwest chilled me to 
the bones, and toward the last the air showed signs of flying 
frost. 

We cross the Shyene River twice, and about midway between 
the two crossings is a sort of ridge or " divide," which breaks 
the ordinary monotony. Shyene is merely the English spelling 
of the French Cheyenne, meaning "scarred arm," the aboriginal 
name of the tribe which formerly ranged from this river south- 
westward to the Cheyenne Pass in the Black Hills. Between 
the Shyene and Dakota or James River, generally known in 
Dakota as Jim River, is a very considerable rise, and the coun- 
try is neither so fertile nor monotonous as in the eastern half of 
this division. West of the "divide" we cross Salt Lake, so- 
called, though little like the great one of Utah. It appears to 
be some five miles long, and from one to two wide ; and differs 
only from the ordinary alkaline lakes of Wyoming in having a 
little more salt and a little less alkali. Authorities appear to 
differ about its having an outlet ; the reason is, the Surveyor 
General tells me, that a low piece of ground connects it with 
the nearest stream, into which it sometimes overflows in very 
wet seasons, thus having sometimes an outlet. 



730 COLD WEATHER. 

Night had come before we entered upon the slope leading 
down to James River, and about 11 o'clock the train drew up 
on the eastern side of that stream, and we were left to hunt our 
Avay through the darkness, across the hollow and into Jimtown. 
The cold was intense, and the v/ind had increased to a perfect 
hurricane. If there is any wind-breaker northwest, between 
there and Alaska, I had no evidence of it. Burdened with only 
a valise, I had to stop half a dozen times in half a mile to get 
breath ; and my overcoat and blanket presented so much sail 
in proportion to my light hull, that I was in imminent danger 
of blowing away. Magnificent Railroad circulars talk of 
cattle "living out all winter" in this country, but where I can 
not "Vive out" in September, I should like to see the bovine 
that could do it in January. However, there is one comfort : 
all the citizens assure me "it's something very uncommon — in 
fact, it's the Equinoctial storm ; if you stay it through you'll 
see a month o' good weather after this." Every tent in the 
canvas town was full, but after an hour's hunt I got half a bunk 
from a young Irishman. The astute islander took care to have 
me lie next the edge of the tent, where the wind whistled over 
my back in mournful tremolo, and after five hours cold napping 
.1 rose and sat by the fire till breakfast. About noon the wind 
began to fall, the cold decreased and a regular snow storm be- 
gan. Far as I could see the prairie was white, and the air full 
of damp snow. 

Summing up my experience of the last three days I was much 
inclined to set down a great deal I had heard and read of the 
"mild, dry and salubrious Northwest," the " health-giving air 
of Minnesota," and the " northward deflection of the isothermal 
line," as merely the exuberance of a playful fancy ; for, as ni)! 
blue fingers stiffened around the pen, in a tent which clattered 
in the wind as if it were bound to fly away, the thermometer 
stood at 28°, and outside the air was full of flying snow, which 
indicated anything but the " mild and salubrious." They tell 
me there that this is something very unusual — "in fiict, it's the 
Equinoctial storm ;" but how anything can be " very unusual 
at this season" and at the same time the "Equinoctial storm/' 



" EQUINOCTIAL STORM." 



731 




N. P. K. R. BRIDGE OVER MISSISSIPPI, NEAR BRAINERD, JUINN. 

I don't quite understand. And, by the way, I hardly ever 
come far north after the middle of August but what I strike the 
"Equinoctial storm." In Indiana that storm used to come 
pretty regularly somewhere between the middle of September 
and the first of October ; but on the Northern Pacific it appears 
to have a longer range. 

A snow-storm on the 25th of September is not particularly 
suggestive of a mild climate; but from previous observation I 
know this to have been an exception, and that pleasant weather 
usually continues till about the first of November. But brief 
as the storm was, it spoiled our excursion beyond the terminus. 
The actual " end of the track " on the 25th was nine miles be- 
yond Jimtown — the little canvas "city" on the James River. 
As we journeyed eastward after the return of good weather, I 
observed that considerable snow had fallen, leaving the black 
soil of Red River Valley in a muddy condition. The general 
testimony makes James River the western border of good land 
in Dakota, the country thence to the Missouri, about a hundred 
miles, being a poor tract, with cold, barren soil and alkali flats. 

At Moorehead we learned that the storm had been universal 
throughout the Northwest, extending down even to one point 



732 SCEXEEY. 

on the Union Pacific ; and the passengers by stage from Winne- 
peg complained of suffering some from the cold. The usual 
three days' duration for these storms was over; by the next 
morning the weather was almost moderate, with indications of 
a mild autumn. The return trip developed no new feature; we 
rose by an imperceptible grade from Red River to-Detroit Lake, 
through a very fertile region ; then traversed the half barren 
strip of black pine, tamarack and scrub-oak to Brainerd, where 
we took another short rest. I like that place better than any I 
saw on the road west of Duluth. The head of navigation on 
the Mississippi, the junction of the main line of the St. Paul 
and Pacific, and a lumber depot for the pine forests north, it 
has the promise of a good permanent trade. But I saw no land 
in the vicinity which appeared to me valuable for agriculture. 
The city census had just been completed, after the liberal man- 
ner of Western towns, I suppose, and made the population 
nearly two thousand. It had two daily papers, of different 
politics — at least nominally — though published at the same 
office. 

East of Brainerd the country was a decided disappointment 
to me, consisting for some eighty miles of nearly equal parts of 
tamarack swamp, sand plain and marshy prairie. Reaching 
the St. Louis River, some twenty-five miles west of Duluth, the 
country becomes more picturesque, with indications of good 
timber. The scenery on that stream is fine, and is said to gain 
in grandeur as one goes up it to the northwest. 

Duluth has a fine site on the northern shore of the extreme 
western point of Lake Superior. Tlie flat along the lake is 
wide enough for four or five squares ; then the land rises, at 
first gently, then more abruptly, to a wooded hill. I should 
guess the population at four thousand ; probably the city census 
reports it twice as much. The prosperity of the place will 
come from two sources : the luniber trade from Northern Min- 
nesota, and the shipping of produce from the Red River Valley. 
Duluth will advance with a steady and regular growth in just 
the proportion that that valley is settled and developed. The 
sanguine dream that this is to be a second Chicago, and the 



FUTURE OF DULUTH. 



733 



entrepot of a vast trade from tho Orient, via a trans-continental 
line, is not destined to be fulfilled — not, at least, in this century. 
In the first place there is not enough of that celebrated trans- 
continental trade to make a great city; and secondly, only a 
portion of what there is will come this way. But from the de- 
velopment of the great grain-producing region on Red River 
this place will, in fifty years, become important. That valley, 
in our country and Winnepeg, when settled as thickly as Illi- 
nois — and it will comfortably support as many — will have a 
population of two ,^ 

or three millions. ""=ffi :^ta. 

To these Duluth ' 1^^^ 

will be the shipping w- 
point. Whether it 
will require fifty or 
a hundred years to 
settle and develop 
that region I shall 
not decide. The 
calculations of 
Western speculat- 
ors are correct in 
the main as to fu- 
ture facts : their 
great error is in re- 
gard to time. Mul- 
tiply the years of 
their prophecies by 
four, and the result will approximate to the truth. Omaha 
was to have become a second Babylon on the completion of the 
Union Pacific, and she will be something of a city yet; but not 
in time to make the present generation of real estate owners 
suddenly rich, Duluth has the same air of pretentious newness 
which marked Omaha in 1866-67, but in most respects is more 
solid than Omaha then was. 

"The Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas"— local title— more 
generally known as Duluth, did not appear to the best advan- 




DALLES or THE ST. LOUIS. 



734 " POST-OFFICE." 

tagejust after a September snow-storm; but it was lively with 
immigrants, colony agents, real estate speculators, travelers and 
freighters. All are anxious to assure me that this weather is 
"not a specimen — we really have a mild climate," of which 
more anon. For many reasons, in this northern region it is 
much better to settle with a colony ; and one meets here many 
representatives of the North European people looking for loca- 
tions. I learned of but one purely American enterprise, the 
" Red River Colony ; " but they appear to me to have the best 
location of any. In Clay County, Minnesota, and the adjoining 
part of Dakota, about the head of Red River, are sixteen town- 
ships, containing 400,000 acres of the finest land in the North- 
west, and nearly all railroad land. The St. Paul and Pacific — 
Breckinridge line— and the Pembina Branch, both traverse the 
region; and both having liberal grants, bring the entire district 
into market together, and no part of it a day's drive from a 
railroad. One of the lines is now in operation, and tiie other 
■will be within a year. The price fixed at present is $4.50 per 
acre, with many advantages stipulated in the way of transporta- 
tion ; and the native of New England would not find the change 
of climate particularly troublesome. L. H. Tenney & Co., of 
Duluth, are the corresponding officers of the colony, which is 
just fairly inaugurated. I think the Scandinavians make half 
or more of the population of the adjacent parts of Minnesota 
and Dakota — a most desirable class of citizens. An old trav- 
eler relates that he was toiling over the black sandy prairie, one 
of the hottest days of their hot but short summer, when to his 
joy he came upon a dirt-i;oofed log-house with the word ICE 
in prominent letters on the right side of the door. Drawing 
near with thirsty haste he saw on the left side in smaller, dim- 
mer letters the word post off. A Riissian or Swedish name, 
he thought it, and called for ice-water. The woman, ignorant 
of English, handed him a bundle of letters with instructions in 
pantomime to pick out Avhat belonged to him ! The only 
American about the place being absent, he made out after a 
lengthy discussion with the woman that the two signs were to 
be read together, and meant POST-OFFICE. 



BOSH! 



I" 



■35 











BULUTH. 



We hear much ot the " northward deflection of the isothermal 
line," and something like a thousand pamphlets, or letters of 
florid correspondents, assure us that the Northern Pacific runs 
through a milder climate than the Central Route; that "cattle 
can live out all winter" in the valleys of the Upper Missouri; 
that the land granted is "worth double the cost of the road," 
etc., etc. To all of which I respond — Bosh ! emphatically, 
Bosh ! It is quite as cold as in the same latitude East, with the 
added disadvantage of open plains and furious winds. If the 
"isothermal line" is in any way accommodating up there, I 
failed to find it out in a thousand miles of travel and a lengthy 
residence in Minnesota. At Yankton the winters are more 
moderate ; snow only lies on the ground about four months, and 
by dressing to suit it, people get through comfortably, l^iftv 
people were frozen to death in three counties in Minnesota last 
winter; and the ice blocks taken out of the Mississippi as far 
down as St. Anthonv averacje three feet thick. Such being the 
case in the settlements, what reason is there, in physical geo- 
, graphy or common sense, for supposing that they have milder 
M'inters three or four hundred miles farther northwest, in the 
direction whence the cold winds come? 



736 



LETTER. 



Storms of fifty hours' duration are not uncommon even in Ne- 
braska, and at Cheyenne I have experienced weather cold enough 
to freeze the most hardy animals if unsheltered. Five hun- 
dred miles south of the Northern Pacific I have seen cattle 
frozen stiff in their tracks, horses left in the spring with only 
the stump of a tail, birds fallen dead from the air in cold wind 
storms, Indians without nose enough left to blow after a winter's 
journey, and buffalo by tens of thousands literally frozen to 
death on the plains. In the light of such well-established facts 
the assertions in the pamphlets and land circulars quoted, are 
something more than mere audacious impudence — they are an 
insult to the popular intelligence. 

Of course there is fertile land on the line, and a climate which 
suits natives of the extreme north ; and in the course of half a 
century it will have, and comfortably support, a considerable 
population. Life is not intolerable in the climate of Canada 
and Nova Scotia ; and men raise stock, acquire wealth and found 
noble communities under the skies of Sweden and Norway. 
But to promise the expectant immigrant an Arcadia, where 
common sense and common experience forbid the idea, is a fraud. 

Of a hundred witnesses known to me to be reliable, I will 
cite but one. The loss of an immense train on the upper Mis- 
souri by Alex. Toponce, Esq., and his partners, being a matter 
of some notoriety, in my collection of evidence on the climate I 
addressed him a note of inquiry. I select his reply from a mass 
of letters and documents to the same effect : 



" CoRiNNE, U. T., 3Iai-ch 8, 1873. 
" Mr. J. H. Beadle :— 

" Bear Sir, .... I give you with pleasure the items of inte- 
rest of the long-to-be-remembered snow-storm that overtook 
me in Montana, in 1865. I left Fort Benton in company 
with Jerry Mann, on my way to Fort Union, on the 14th of 
November of that year, with an outfit of sixty-one wagons, 
and 787 head of work cattle; twenty-five head of horses and' 
mules, with seventy-one men ; we arrived at Fort Union 



HARD ON THE ANIMALS. 737 

December 16th, loaded and started for Fort Benton December 
28th, with weather favorable for a successful trip. About forty- 
miles out on the return trip, on a stream known as Quaking 
Asp River, putting in on the north side of the Missouri in latitude 
48| degrees; on the eigiith day of January we were overtaken 
by a terrific snow-storm. The first day of the storm we lost 
about 150 head of cattle by freezing. Not being able to move 
we corralled our wagons, and built a stockade around them as 
a protection from the Indians. 

" In ten days we had lost all the animals we had except two 
mules and two steers, which we protected by covering with buf- 
falo robes and wagon sheets, and built fires around them, feed- 
ing them on bark, dried buffalo meat and corn-meal. On or 
about the eighth day of February, in company with Mr. Mann, 
I started with the two surviving mules for Helena, for a fresh 
supply of cattle to move our wagons (here I will say that none 
of the cattle lost died from starvation). Mercury congealed, 
and never moved for fifteen days; the air was colder than a 
man could breathe, walking against it. 

" The horns of the cattle cracked and the pith burst out. 
Their tails would freeze stiff' in horizontal positions, and dur- 
ing all this time the buffalo gathered into the timber and thou- 
sands of them froze to death. They were perfectly tame; would 
make but one jump on the approach of man. On the seventh 
or eighth day after leaving camp, as above mentioned, we ar- 
rived at Fort Copeland, at the mouth of Milk River, about 
sixty-five miles travel through snow from two and a half to 
three feet in depth. There we laid over one day with some 
traders, when we resumed our journey for Fort Benton, with 
no settlements between the two points — a distance of about 250 
miles. At the three forks of Milk River we found three In- 
dian ponies, herded them on the ice and caught them. They 
came in excellent play, as our mules were played out. At this 
point the snow was about gone. 

" We arrived at Fort Benton with nothing farther of inte- 
rest ; there we got fresh animals from Messrs. Carrol & Steele. 
All this time we subsisted on buffldo meat without salt — our 
mules living on the same and on bark. We started back from 
47 



738 HORSES AND MULES DISAPPEAR. 

Helena on the 20tli of March, with six luindred head of cattle 
and forty-eight horses and mules. No farther difficulty until 
we reached Sun Kiver, where we were again overtaken by a 
terrible snow-storui. We camped on the island opposite the 
Government corral, and the second day of thp storm I rode 
around our camp, a circle of about six miles, looking for Indian 
signs. Seeing none, that night we turned our stock Joose. 
M'hat was our astonishment in the morning to find all our horses 
and mules gone, except one that Mr. Mann had at the Govern- 
ment farm, and one that would not be driven away from camp. 
Five Indians had been camj)ed only two hundred yards from 
us during the storm, in the willows. 

" Then we were obliged to drive the cattle afoot to Fort 
Benton. There two of our men had a little row, and both were 
killed. Procuring more horses we drove to the Marias, twelve 
miles below Fort Benton, built a raft to run over our supply 
Avagons ; upset all our provisions in the rivei", and were again 
left to subsist on the country, as no supplies could be obtained 
at Fort Benton. 

"Xo farther trouble, except dodging around the country to 
avoid hostile Indians, driving cattle on foot, wading sloughs in 
extreme cold weather, and living on buffalo meat — the amount 
it takes to satisfy a man you would hardly credit, eight men 
often eating in one week the meat of a cow — until we reached 
the lower crossing of Milk River. There in gathering up our 
cattle we missed one; one of the men went back some four hun- 
dred yards after him, and in sight of camp was shot, scalped 
and a checkerboard cut on his back before we could get to 
him, by Indians in ambush, of whom some forgot the number 
of their mess. 

" On the 10th of April the ice very suddenly commenced 
breaking up in the Missouri River; gorged against a bluff bank 
in a short bend of the stream, and dammed the water so that 
it set back fifteen miles and found a place for a new channel. 
It broke in above us, and ran through our camp on the Quaking 
Asp, taking wagons, cabins, trees and everything else before it, 
drowning elk, deer, and all the animals on the bottom. It came 



TUE FRESHET. 739 

SO sudden, that men sitting in the cabins had not time to put 
on their boots, climbing out through the chimneys to save tiieir 
lives, the water running about fifteen feet deep. One of" the 
cabins floated down the river about eight miles with three men 
on it, who cut up a buffalo robe and tied the corners together. 
Two of them survived. Others climbed trees, hanging on for 
sixty hours. One party built a fire and cooked their meals on 
the roof of a cabin. Three men in all perished. Some were 
crippled by having their limbs broken ; others by hanging on 
to the trees and chilling nearly to death. 

" By this freshet I lost my whole train of twenty-six wagons. 
Mr. Mann's train was camped on the bluff bank, and the water 
merely rising up into some wagon beds damaged considerable 
freight; but the others escaped. AVe lost all the hundred head 
of cattle brought down from Helena. I was loaded with 200,- 
000 pounds of valuable freight, of which all was lost except a 
few things that lodged among the drift-wood and were not 
perishable by water. 

"The merchandize at that time was worth $125,000 ; the stock 
and wagons about $00,000 more, making in the aggregate 
$175,1" 00. We gathered up what little was left and reached 

Helena on the 28th of June I could write much more 

of my experience in these hard winters, particularly of the stock 
lost on Snake River and in other portions of Idaho, in the winter 
of 1864, when I lost a hundred and sixty head. 

"Friend Beadle, I have given you a plain, unvarnished tale 
of facts known to a dozen others; but I must say that, with all 
my experience of a mountain life, the Mormons have given me 
a worse jolting up this winter than T ever had before — as you 
have seen by the Gentile papers.* 

" The route traveled over between Fort Union and Fort 



* Under the jurisdiction claimed by the Probate Courts of Utah, the cause of 
the present difficulties there, Mr. Toponce was arrested at the suit of some Mor- 
mon cattle-dealers ; but in spite of a fearful array of " inspired witnesses," they 
failed to make out a case. It was pretty clearly proved to be a malicious prose- 
cution, for which, however, there is no remedy under Mormon law. 



740 "tempeuing gales." 

Benton is inhabited by the Sioux, Assineboines, Crows, Grog 
Ventres, Pieguns, Bloods and Blackfeet Indians, all hostile. 
" Truly Yours, Alex. Toponce." 

One of the brilliant pamphlets above quoted explains that the 
low passes there in the Rocky Mountains " admit the tempering 
gales from the Pacific," thus accounting for a " mild and equable 
climate" in that latitude. Mr. Toponce's route was along those 
" low passes," and accordingly he should have experienced those 
" tempering gales ; " but they appear to have missed him some- 
how. How could these " tempering gales " get over three 
ranges of mountain, from six to twelve thousand feet high ? 
The region above spoken of has a good climate for five months 
in the year — sufficient to produce all the necessaries of life; and 
eastern Dakota has a fertile soil. But as to the " mild winters," 
even the buffaloes know better than to believe it ; for they go 
south in winter — or stor^ south, though many are frozen to death 
before they get far. 




CHAPTER XXXV. 

THE AVAY TO OREGON. 

Westward again — Iowa — Union Pacific — Utah — Central Pacific — Sacramento — 
California and Oregon Railroad — Chico — General Bidwell's Ranche — Semi- 
Tropical Fruits and Flowers — Reading— Shasta — Joaquin Miller — Shasta In- 
dians — " Venus and Adonis " — Staging on the Sierras — Mount Shasta — 
Yreka — Frontier justice — Immense Forests — Oregon — Rogue River — Umijqua 
— Willamette — Portland. 

|ROWN October, 1872, found me again rolling through 
Iowa, via the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad, 
to visit the western end of the Northern Pacific. Five 
seasons had made great changes since I first crossed the 
State. Now there are four lines of rail from Mis- 
sissippi to Missouri, and others in course of construction. 

My fourteenth trip over the Union Pacific, at the prettiest 
season of the year, was an unusually pleasant one ; and reaching 
" Zion " I found the truce of the past season broken, and Mor- 
mon and Gentile in their regular and normal conditicm of at- 
tack and defence. Eastern people earnestly and honestly 
inquire : Why can not the two parties there simply let each other 
alone? Similarly it was said : Let Slavery alone, and it will 
not cause national trouble. But there are certain institutions 
which can not be left alone, because from their very nature they 
can not let anything else alone. If Mormonisin were only a 
Church, it could easily be let alone; but it is a political entity, 
claiming divine right to rule a certain portion of territory, and 
to regulate the trade, pursuits, marriages, and social relations 
of all its subjects. Shall we submit to aiiy political power be- 
cause it is also a Church ? 

A. is a merchant ; the Church takes her stand at his door, and 
orders away his customers. B. is an artizan ; he withdraws 

741 



742 



THEORY. 




.^i'>^^>v 






^^S^&'SJi^ •:- 










X.\ illl. J L NNLL— SIERRA NEVADA. 

from the Cliurch, and by her simple fiat she dej^rives liim of 
patrons. C is a farmer, an apostate; the Chnrch orders his 
neighbors not to join with him, and to deny him water-jirivi- 
leges, etc. D. is a miner, who gets drunk or commits some 
trifling offence; the Church, acting openly tlirough the civil 
])ower, takes all his money and puts him on the chain-gang a 
month. Of course A., B., C, and D. ought to love the Church, 
and prav Congress for toleration ; but somehow we do not love 
those who hate us. We are natives, they are foreigners; we 
are mostly Americans, they mostly British ; we love a republic, 
thev adore a theocracy; their theory is that power comes from 
the head, ours that it proceeds from the people ; they believe 
most of the Gentile world to be scoundrels and prostitutes, and 
are not slow to say so; they want us to stay away; we feel that 
that is our country as much as any part of America ; they hate 



SILVER PALACE CARS. 



743 




DONNER LAKE — SIERRA NEVADA. 



US, and we despise them. Beautiful conditions for a spontane- 
ous peace ! It is nonsense to say this conflict in Utah is cre- 
ated, or *' worked up by schemers;" it simply exists. Gentiles 
can no more avoid conflict with Mormons than with Indians — 
unless the priesthood permit the people to become Americanized, 
and soundly democratized. So the old conflict goes on — in one 
shape or another — first one side getting ahead and then the 
other, like a pair of balky oxen ; or, as we used to say on the 
Wabash, " like a half sled on ice." 

It had grown monotonous, and after a few days' rest, I was 
off for the Coast, taking passage in one of the Silver Palace cars 
in use on the Central Pacific. The company have discardi tl 
the Pullman, on account, as they allege, of its extortionate 
charges; and use these cars, from the manufactory of Jackson & 
Sharp. They are decidedly convenient for single gentlemon, 
having extensive sitting rooms at each end, in which smoking 



744 



SNOW SHEDS. 




SNOW SHEDS ON THE CENTRAL PACIFIC. 



is allowed, as they can be completely shut off from the main 
room ; but in other respects they do not appear to me as com- 
fortable in winter as the Pullman. Different parts of the car 
seem to heat unequally. 

The last was a " late fall " in the mountains, but we had a 
cold night on the Promontory and Goose Creek Range, and at 
daylight, descending the slope to Humboldt, found the ground 
covered with several inches of snow. As we moved down the 
Humboldt, the air grew sensibly warmer, and after noon we 
saw no more snow on the plain. But it was already six inches 
deep on the Sierras, and all indications were that winter had 
regularly set in. Between the first station on Truckee and 
Cape Horn are forty miles of snow sheds, said by competent 
judges to be the best ever constructed in the world. It was 
here the English Lord complained of these sheds as "a blarsted 



DIFFERENT ROUTES. 745 

long dejjot — longest I ever saw." They continue down tlio 
western slope to an elevation of only 4500 feet above the sea, 
where there is no danger of a blockade; and cost a nulllon 
and a half. No snow can fall sufficient to block the road, as 
they are built against the upper side in such a way as to siicd 
it into the deep valleys, inclining to one side or the other with 
the slope of the hills. 

Down the western slope we found the climate moderating 
rapidly every mile. Soon we were out of the snow and among 
the brilliant leaves and yellow grass which mark the autumn 
scenery of the Pacific slope. There had been very little rain 
yet — only two light showers — not more than enough to mode- 
rate the dust. The stimulating air and cloudless sky showed 
that the rainy season was not regularly begun ; and I was to 
have delightful weather for my inland journey to Oregon. 

The route from Sacramento to Portland consists of three 
divisions : By the Oregon Branch of the Central Pacific, one 
hundred and seventy miles to Reading, present terminus; then 
two hundred and eighty-two miles of staging to Oakland, then 
terminus of the Oregon and California road, and thence one 
hundred and eighty-one miles on that road to Portland. It is 
an open question, and vehemently argued there, whether this 
or the route from San Francisco by water is the more pleasant. 
Probably it depends on the individual traveler, and whether he 
is more subject to sea sickness or stage sickness. In order to 
give an intelligent opinion, I went one route and returned the 
other. Through tickets from Sacramento to Portland this way 
can be had for forty-five dollars, the fare by water ten dollars 
less. 

As we move out of .Sacramento, the country shows signs of 
some rain having fallen ; the bright yellow of the grass, and 
summer-dried look of the leaves have yielded to a velvety 
brown, with patches of pale green ; and the vineyards and fig 
orchards show that the face of nature has been slightly washed. 
As we proceed northward and up the valley, signs of fertility 
increase, more rain has fallen, and the soil is naturally much 
richer than the red plains east of Sacramento. At sundown we 



746 GENERAL BIDAYELL's RESIDENCE. 

stop half an hour at INIarysville, in Yuba County, a l.cautirul 
place of some five thousand people, with more of a New Eng- 
land look, and less of that half-Spanish air which marks so 
many California towns. 

I had determined to stop at two or three of the principal 
towns, and having run past Chico was informed that I had left 
one of tlie most important; accordingly I stopped over nigiit ' 
at Nord Station, and returned by early train next morning. 
The })rincii)al point of interest here is the great ranche of 
General John Bidwell, containing 20,000 acres, and under the 
best general cultivation of any part of the valley. The plains 
of the Sacramento have a varying width of from twenty-five to 
fifty miles between the Coast Eange and the foothills of the 
Sierras. In a state of nature, they were neither prairie nor 
timbered, but "oak openings," the growth very scattering, and 
abundant grass everywhere among the trees. 

The ranche of General Bidwell includes part of the city, 
and his magnificent residence is but twenty minutes' M-alk from 
the hotel. Four years since he represented this district in 
Congress, and ranks here as a pioneer of the pioneers, having 
come to California during the "first invasion," in 1846. This 
is the notable year, before the discovery of gold — the same year 
that Governor Boggs and party. Judge Thornton, Edwin M. 
Bryant — first American Alcade of San Francisco — and the 
unfortunate Donner party, crossed from Missouri and Illinois; 
for at least five thousand Americans had crossed the Plains, 
and settled in California befi)re the "great rush" of 1849. 
Most of them engaged in cattle-raising, the only business of the 
Mexican population; for as late as 1850, few people believed 
that these dry summers would admit of regular farming. The 
General's ranche is one of the old Mexican grants, to which the 
title was stipulated for by the treaty, and has been repeatedly 
confirmed by the United States Courts. All the fruits and 
grains of the temperate zone are produced, with many of those 
of the tropics; but wheat and barley are the principal products. 
He has raised some corn also every year, but only a few of the 
lowest tracts of the valley, containing most moisture, are fit for 



RAISIN CULTURE. 747 

that crop; the long dry summers would require too expensive 
irrio-ation. Even of the moist lands, it is found that most are 
more profitable for hay and grazing, and corn is not considered 
staple. 

The ranche has a hundred and fifty acres of orchard, and 
seventy-five in vineyard; but on the last only one-third of the 
vines are yet bearing. The rest are one, two, and three years 
old. The General is going extensively into the raisin business, 
now planting species of grapes especially for their manufacture. 
The favorites are the White Muscat of Alexandria, the AVhite 
Malaga, and White Neisse. The first is by for the sweetest. 
Another kind, imported from Spain, and known as the 
Fiahzagos, makes an elegant raisin, but they are thin-skinned, 
and do not bear transportation well. Hence they are only 
useful for home consumption. So far the preparation of 
raisins in this vicinity has proved quite a success. Mr. J. J. 
Moak, of Chico, last year shipped a large quantity which are 
quoted in the market as equal to any from the Orient. Sixty 
varieties of the grape are now produced here, of which a third 
or more will make good raisins. There is inexhaustible wealth 
in these foothills, only requiring a moderate industry to develop 
it, and it is a kind of wealth that is permanent and increasing. 
A vine once growing and productive, is good for two genera- 
tions. The use of grapes, as of fruit of all kinds, is ou the 
increase here, and must result in an improvement of the gene- 
ral health. People will learn to use fruit more, and stimulants 
less. When this country was first settled, men lived on meat 
and bread alone for years. Such was the living of the original 
Californians, and the Americans fell into their ways; beef only 
was plenty and cheap, and beef was the staff" of life. Such a 
style of living could not produce the highest type of humanity. 
By a law of " natural selection," men sought only the most 
fiery stimulants; and even now it is a source of surprise to 
visitors that, while the State produces the finest of wines, the 
national beverage of California is whisky. Arriving at a way- 
side hotel at this season, three to one the traveler will find no 
fire; and if he complain, the common answer is: " Walk right 



748 



FRUITS. 



into the bar — warm you up for four bits, and heat you red hot 
for a dollar." This is a reninant of the tastes of the early 
settlers, who worked hard and lived hard on beef, pork, and 
Chili flour, and never tasted milk, wine, or vegetables for years 
together. 

As we walked around the grounds adjacent to Bid well man- 
sion, we saw oranges, olives and pomegranates growing luxuri- 
antly, while the borders were a brilliant maze of white and red, 
diversified by the branching palm, pampas grass ten feet high, 
with beautiful white plumes, and the delicate tints of the giant 

oleander. Woi'kmen were busy 

covering the young orange trees, 

which must be shielded from the 

coldest winds during the first 

^ three or four years, but on the 

2 full-grown trees the growing 

'^ oranges were nearly of full size, 

the green rind beginning to 

change to a pale yellow. 

Just now, at the " turn of the 
season," the walking is pleasant; 
but in a few weeks the early 
rains, generally the heaviest, will 
create a landscape of mud, very 
like some of our late March or 
early April scenes in Indiana. 

For a month or two of the 
California winter the mud is dis- 
tressing. The hardest rain is 
past early in January, the ground 
has become firm, the roads are 
good, and the growing season 
has fairly set in. Then these valleys are indeed beautiful. 
Strawberries and other early fruits are soon in market, the plains 
are of a rich green, plowing is pushed forward with vigor, 
wheat is sown and springs quickly into growing life. In 
March the rainy season appears to come again, though generally 




ACOKN CACHES OF THE CALI 
FORNIA INDIAKS. 



WHEAT. 749 

the " later rain" is light. Thence the showers grow slowly 
less and less frequent till some time in May. The wheat is 
about full grown, early potatoes begin to appear, and slight 
signs of drought are manifest. The grass gets ripe, the Spanish 
oats (wild) begin to turn yellow, and early in June the wheat 
is harvested. 

It lies or stands in shocks on the ground, to be threshed out 
at will ; for no rain need now be apprehended. The si\rface 
begins to show signs of extreme drought; by the middle of 
July the freshets are all past and the marshes dried up ; the 
ground cracks open in long fissures, into which the grass seeds 
fall and are preserved to another growing season. As summer 
advances all the minor vegetation loses its green ; the grass, 
dead ripe, stands cured to a bright yellow, varied in places by 
a dirty brown; creation assumes a gray and dusty color, and 
only the purple fig leaves and faint green of those trees which 
have a deeper root relieve the general aspect of barrenness. On 
the slopes of the Sierras .the red dust lies six inches in depth, 
and the prospect is brightened only by occasional patches of 
verdure along the mountain streams, and the pale-green oval 
leaves of the manzanita. Still the heavens remain clear. Then 
one may see through the valley of the Sacramento great stacks 
of wheat in sacks, standing in the open fields till a convenient 
time arrives for hauling it away, and threshing machines run- 
ning in the open air, with no fear of rain. The stubble of the 
old fields retains its brightness, and the long dry autumn of 
California is fairly inaugurated. The marshes become beds of 
dust, which blows up in stifling clouds; the mirage appears 
upon the plain in deceptive floods of what the Mexicans call 
" lying waters," the iuleji become dry as tinder, and at night the 
Sacramento is lighted for miles by the fires that rage over the 
same area where eight months before a steamboat could ply at 
ease. The yellow grass is eaten to the ground, and the herds 
are driven far up the mountains ; the dust, which has become 
insufferable in the roads, seems to blow away and on to the 
fields; the roads are often bare and dry, hardened like sunburnt 
brick, and the depressions in the fields knee deep in dust. The 



750 THE RIGHT TIME TO VISIT CALIFORNIA. 

sky at last appears to become copj)erv, or obscured ; tlie snn 
rises red and fiery, and disappears about 4 o'clock in a bank of 
yellow haze. The wind on the coast, which has been from the 
west for months, begins to veer round to the southwest, and 
people l)egin to ])rcpare for the rainy season. A few boards are 
nailed on the worst places of the apology for shed or barn ; what 
wheat remains in the field is hastily hauled away or stored, and 
the Californian is prepared for winter. After a it':\v preliminary 
showers in late October or early November, the "early rain" 
begins in earnest; torrents of water descend uj)on beds of dust, 
and all creation is changed to a sea of thin mud. But this con- 
tinues only for a few weeks ; by January 1 the soil again becomes 
soaked and firm, and in two weeks more the growing and de- 
lightful season is again inaugurated. 

Moral: If you are coming to California for pleasure, come 
between New Year's and the Fourth of July. 

Between Chico and Reading I encountered the first rain of 
the season ; but, like most California rains, there was very little 
bluster about it ; tlie rain fell in a steady shower, without driving 
winds, and the air was about as cool as that of early April in 
Ohio. All the accompaniments were those of a spring rain in 
the East; there was a soft, balmy air, the grass appeared to 
revive under the shower, and the red foot-hills sent down vast 
streams of muddy water, through gulches which had been dusty 
for six months. 

We reached Reading, terminus of the road, at midnight; and 
the stage passengers started on at otuie for the three days' ride 
to the south end of the Oregon and California road. After a 
few hours' sleep I mounted a cayuse and rode seven miles over 
the hills to Shasta, a straggling irregular mountain town, stretch- 
ing two or three miles along a narrow valley, and the county 
seat of Shasta County. 

Here and in this vicinity are the materials for the unMritten 
history of Mr. Heiner Miller, now better known to the literary 
})ublic as Joaquin (Waw^ee») Miller ; he resided hereabouts for 
three years — 185(3 to 1859 — and did not adopt his jwetical title 
till some time after his hurried departure. His achievements 



DIGGER INDIAN'S. 751 

are slil! celebrated in local chronicles; his Shasta scjuaw still 
lives near here, and in the county are many traces of him. He 
is accused of all sorts of misdemeanors, and the county records 
contain papers of strange import as to his reputation. His 
Indian wife was of a Pitt River band of the Diggers, and now 
lives with an old mountaineer named Brock, in the upper jjart 
of this county. Miller joined the band in 1856 and lived with 
them nearly two years. His half-breed daughter was born 
early in 1857, when Miller and his scpiaw lived in a cabin on 
Cloud River, a branch of the Pitt, at tiie foot of the Shasta 
Mountains. He and Brock were good hunters, and suj^plied 
themselves and Indian com})anions plentifully with game, but 
in other respects lived exactly like the Indians. Tlie staple 
food of the Diggers is of acorns, grass-seeds, pine nuts and 
kamas roots; but in times of scarcity they eat service-berries, 
manzanita berries and the balls of the mountain buckeye. These 
last, in their natural state, are a deadly poison ; but toward 
spring they become comparatively harndess. Then the Diggers 
gather and pound them in a mass, wdiich tliey allow to freeze ; 
of tins they make a sort of paste or bread, which is highly nu- 
tritious. Their great luxury is dried, or tainted, salmon ; and 
white men, strangely enough, learn to eat it so, and like it even 
more tainted than do the savages. But this Pitt River band 
appears to me one of the very lowest of the Digger race ; and 
from the specimens I have seen I should say the sight, or rather 
the smell, of one of their squaws would turn the stomach of 
any man not a poet. Nevertheless many old mountaineers, and 
even some later comers, are to be found cabined among these 
hills, living each contentedly with his squaw; and it is common 
testimony that after a white man has lived with one of them 
two or three years, he would not leave her for the best white 
woman in the country. They learn to do housework after a 
fashion, and on gala days rig out in hoops and waterfalls of most 
fantastic pattern. But they boil or roast the carcasses of their 
dead relatives; mix the grease with tar, and mat it on their 
heads and necks, making a sort of helmet, with only the eyes 
and mouth free ; then for seven weeks they howl on the hill- 



752 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



fops every morning and evening to scare away the evil spirits. 
I saw one of these " in mourning," and am convinced that if 
she don^t scare the Devil away, he must be a spirit of some 
nerve. A white man, disposed to Indian life, can adopt all 
their customs in a month, while an Indian can not adopt ours 
in fifty years. Arithmetically speaking, it is a hundred times 
as easy for a white man to go wild as for an Indian to civilize. 
It was amid such associations as these, and in a wild life 

among the beautiful 
scenery of these moun- 
tains, that Miller first 
tried his hand at lit- 
erature. His readino; 
while here was ex- 
clusively of French 
romances, amatory 
poetry, and the lives 
of pirates and robbers. 
From one of the last 
he adopted his pre- 
^^^ sent name. Joaquin 
Jr^P Murietta was a noted 
outlaw and nuirderer, 
some years before the 
American occu{)ation, 
and was long the 
terror of the Upper 
Joaquin Valley. He 
"VENUS AND ADONIS"— DIGGER INDIANS, appears to havc been 

of the "dashing, 
chivalrous," Claude Duval style of bandits, and spent his gains 
freely with the senorifas of Monterey and other Mexican towns. 
This character seems to have fascinated Miller. The most 
charitable opinion in Shasta about the latter was that he was 
slightly insane and crazed with an aflfectation to imitate the 
heroes of Spanish romance. 

But while Miller was enjoying himself and absorbing poetic 




PITT EIVER MASSACRE. 753 

fire from the companionship of Shasta squaws, a serious tragedy 
was enacted, which nearly proveii the death of the incij)ient 
poet. In January, 1857, a colony of twelve whites, on Pitt 
River, were massacred by the Indians, some of the same race 
with whom Miller was living. Among the settlers were twin 
brothers named Harry and Samuel R. Lockhart, but the latter 
being absent down the river, escaped, the only survivor. He 
swore undying vengeance against the whole Pitt River band, 
and pursued them for nine years, until he had killed twenty- 
five, every one of the band concerned in the massacre. He 
became a monomaniac on the subject, and though often arrested 
by the Federal authorities, as soon as released took to the moun- 
tains, "hunting for Shastas." He stole two Indian (children, 
and made them spies and decoys, and by their aid killed several 
of the family with which Miller was connected, and captured 
Miller himself. Uncertain of the poet's guilt, he tied and 
brought him to Yreka, and into the office of Judge Rosborough, 
where he stood guard over his prisoner for two nights and a 
day, until the Judge could collect the evidence. There was 
none to criminate Miller, and Lockhart was with difficulty per- 
suaded not to shoot him. 

The fate of Lockhart was a melancholy one. After the last 
of the guilty band was killed, he went to Silver City, Idaho, 
and was employed by the noted Hill Beachy as a guard on the 
Ida Elmore Mine. When the battle took place over the pos- 
session of the mine, Lockhart was shot through the left arm. 
Amputation was delayed by his obstinacy, until Beachy had 
convinced him there would still be enough of the arm left to 
rest a rifle across and take aim. It was then too late; mortifi- 
cation followed, and he died a terrible death. 

We were off from Reading by the stage at 1 o'clock in the 
morning. It carried all the delayed mail which had accumu- 
lated during the last storm — seventeen hundred pounds of it. 
On the top, rear and " boot," it was piled as long as it could be 
strapped fast; the front seat was filled to the roof, and the rest 
of the little coach was left for seven passengers and their minor 
luggage. Besides myself, there were an old man returning 
48 



754 IMMENSE TIMBER. 

home to Oregon from a visit "to the States;" two invalids to 
try the upj>er country, and three emigrants to Oregon, but 
fortunately no ladies. The stage company had done the best 
possible under the circumstances, but the storm had left five 
feet of snow on the other route — there are two stage routes 
from Reading — the coaches had to draw off that line, and 
delayed mail and passengers were scattered at every main 
station along the way. 

At daylight we were ferried over Pitt River, and entered 
fairly upon the mountains. The valley of the Sacramento, 
which has been narrowing northward for fifty miles, may be 
said to stop at this point, as the spurs of the Sierras put out 
■westward toward the Coast Range, and, in mining parlance, 
"pinch in" upon the })laln. Pitt River is really the Upper 
Sacramento, being the largest of the confluent streams, and 
})reserving a general course southwestward, after emerging 
from tlie mountains. Along its right bluif, we preserved a 
general northeast course all day. Again and again we thought 
we had left it, as the coach turned directly away and labored 
up mountainous passes, and along frightful "dugways" for 
miles, to an elevation of hundreds of feet above the stream ; 
then we would turn to the riglit, and come thundering down a 
long rocky grade for two or three miles to the water's edge 
ygain. And every time we appeared to be coming back to 
the same place : there were the same timbered hills and rocky 
bluffs, perpendicular on one side of the stream and sloping on 
the other; the same immense gray boulders, rocky islands and 
towers in the bed of the stream, and the same white foaming 
rapids. For fifty miles the river is a series of cascades and 
rapids ; and though, througli our ups and downs, we but kept 
even with the stream, we must have been gaining rapidly in 
general elevation. The sun rose clear, and the bright day and 
sublime scenery made us forget tlie fatigues of the way. The 
immense timber through which this road runs is a constant 
astonishment to the traveler. For two hundred miles, broken 
only by two or three open spaces, stretches a vast forest of firs 
and pines of every diameter, from one to ten feet. Here is in- 



MOUNT SHASTA. 



755 




ROUGH ON THE OLD MAN. 



exhaustible wealth in lumber. Both are good ; the fir is harder 
to work than the pine, but is more durable; and the timber 
alone would amply repay the cost of the projected railroad. 
With facilities for shipping, every acre of these woods would be 
worth from five hundred to a thousand dollars. 

At last, near night, we left the river and worked slowly up 
hill for two hours to a sort of luountain plateau. Crossing this 
we saw to our right Mount Shasta, 14,400 feet high, presenting 
in the cold, clear moonlight a view of indescribable beauty. 
The lower portion looked like polished marble, shading off by 
degrees to a bright green; while the summit, covered all the 
year with snow and ice, appeared a monument of dazzling 
whiteness. 

Sentiment was soon overpowered by sense ; for, though we 
had gained two hours of troubled sleep on the ascent, rest was 
impossible on the descent. The drivers, to "gain time," took 
advantage of all the down-grades; the coach bumped over great 
boulders, and threw us against the roof and back against the 



756 ROUGH COACH RIDING. 

seats till phrenological development went on at both ends with 
most uncomfortable rapidity. The old man, occupying the 
middle ot" our seat, took up at least half of it, and every lurch 
our way threw his whole weight on me, while his groans and 
smothered curses made me fear several times in the nii^ht that 
he would die right on top of me. 

Lean men, in general, can not endui'e coach riding as well as 
plump ones; and I think (if there be* any truth in Darwinism) 
in my years of travel I ought to have grown or "developed" a 
series of pads on the angles which strike the vehicle. Nature 
probably knew what she was about when she gave man his 
present make-up, but she evidently intended him for turning up 
the soil in a level country. For mountaineering I could suggest 
an improvement — a cast-iron backbone with a hinge in it, ter- 
minating below in a sole-leather, copper-lined flap. 

We reached Yreka (only four hours behind time) at 2 A. M., 
and the old man, two invalids and myself tumbled out of the 
coach, exhausted, and applied for a " lay over," unable to go 
further. Nine hours' sleep did me some good, though I felt 
as if I had been pounded from head to foot with a claf)board. 
Passengers usually ride through the two hundred and eighty 
miles between the railroads without stopping, but I learned at 
the telegraph office that the last five loads are scattered all the 
way, stopping at convenient places for the next coach, then 
riding fifty or a hundred miles, or as long as they can stand it. 

Yreka is a place of wonderful beauty. From the town a 
gently undulating valley extends in every direction, rising by a 
succession of timbered foothills to the lofty mountains, whose 
notched and pointed summits, now dazzling white with snow, 
seem to join the blue heavens or lose themselves in clouds. But 
it is only on the points of the mountains that any mist can be 
seen ; above us the sky is cloudless, and the cool air is exhilarat- 
ing as some ethereal gas. It is difficult to give Eastern readers 
a general description of California climate. "When so-called 
generally, it always means the climate of the interior, which is 
three-fourths of agricultural California, including the Sacra- 
mento, Joaquin and Tulare Valleys. But there are also at least 



MINING. 757 

tliirty minor valleys opening out of the Sierras, of wliicli each 
has a different climate ; from Sonora, where lemons and pome- 
granates ripen, and flowers bloom all the year, to Yreka, where 
snow often lies upon the ground a month, and the cool stimu- 
lating air in winter is like that of late October in New England. 

A few miles east of Yreka is tlie home of the Modocs, and 
soon after the region becoiMes historic on account of that curious 
" tempest-in-a-teapot," the IModoc War. Like all old mining 
counti(>s, this is heavily taxed. In some counties the taxes have 
often amounted to five per cent, on the valuation. AVhen I 
visited the State first, in 1869, her politicians were discussing 
the project of having the State afford relief to some of them. 
This was officially decided to be unconstitutional ; but it is now 
suggested that it may be done indirectly, by allowing these 
counties a rebate on State taxes. A mining population of ten 
thousand or more organized a county on a magnificent basis, 
voted public works and bonds to erect them, and thus imposed 
a debt which would not have been oppressive to such a popuhi- 
tion. But the miners nearly all left, and a community of three 
or four thousand farmers, graziers and wine-growers have to 
pay the debt and run the county. 

Mining began near Yreka in 1850, in Shasta County then ; 
and the town was known as Shasta Butte City. The real, 
aboriginal name is Wyeka ; as no Indian uses the letter "r" 
any more than a Chinaman, and that name is still seen on one 
of the oldest signs. There is a tradition that a Dutch baker 
painted the present name on his sign by mistake, and it was 
noted that Yreka Bakery spelt the same both ways, which struck 
the citizens as such a curious and happy combination that it was 
retained by general consent. In like manner the name of the 
new county soon organized, Siskiyou, is supposed to result from 
the Indians and miners' attempt to pronounce the French Six 
CaiUoux ("six boulders"), the name of the district from six 
large rocks in the river. As one of the old settlers infiirmed 
me, most of the early comers learned French and Indian bv the 
aid of a "sleeping dictionary," the pronounciation is notstrictlv 
academic. When the miners first came they learned that a 



758 JUSTICE. 

Scotchman named McKie had been living among the Klamaths 
for forty years, and was very popular with them ; hence their 
first salutation was " Mak a Makkeef' — " Are you a McKie ? " 
or good white man — a question which facts soon answered in 
the negative. The records of the early Courts are ludicrous. 
The first Alcalde, in 1851, was known as " Cut-eye Foster," 
but he left no docket, and soon ran away, and George C. Vail 
reigned in his stead. No law book was ever used in his Court; 
he decided each case on its own merits, writing out the full 
history, and his docket is a curiosity. In one case brought be- 
fore him, a boy had driven a team from Oregon and worked all 
winter for a man, who declined to pay. He sold out in the 
spring and was leaving suddenly when, on complaint of the 
boy, Vail and two constables stopped him on the road. It was 
proved that he had received three thousand dollars on his sale, 
but he declared himself unable to pay, though not denying the 
boy's claim. Judge Vail decided in these words : " Constables, 
stand this man on his head, shake him well, and see if you 
can't hear son)ething drop!" Iso sooner said than done. A 
vigorous shaking brought to light a wallet containing two thou- 
sand dollars in gold dust; the boy received his claim of three 
hundred dollars, the Judge and constables took an ounce apiece 
for their trouble, and the defendant went his way a lighter man. 
Justice like this was cheap at three ounces. 

The next coach did not arrive till 4 in the morning, giving us 
a m'ght's rest, and four exhausted passengers took a " lay-over," 
making room for the recuperated four to go on. We traveled 
northwest for two or three hours, crossing the Klamath River by 
a "swing-ferry" soon after daylight. I was surprised at the size 
of this stream, which is not among the noted rivers of the coast; 
it looked big enough at the crossing for navigation with good- 
sized boats. The valley amounts to but little agriculturally, as the 
stream runs between rugged hills through most of its course ; but 
on its head-waters is the greatest game and fishing region in the 
West, if not in the world. Every kind of game known to the 
Sierras is abundant, and the cold waters of Klamath Lake and 
tributaries are alive with trout. It is the paradise of sportsmen, 



FINE CLIMATE. 759 

and notliing l)iit its remote and inaccessible position prevents its 
being a region of great resort. Our ride to-day was a pleasant 
surprise: we Iiad no rugged mountains to cross, and the coach 
Avas quite comfortable. Soon after leaving the Klamath we 
enter Oregon, and the impression given on this road is that the 
State is covered by one immense and gloomy forest. In places 
the very daylight seemed to vanish into a mild twlight, and, in 
the few " clearings " we passed tiirough, the sunshine was 
novel and enjoyable. After noon the country began to show 
signs of improvement; settlers' cabins became numerous, and, 
after running down a narrow cailon, we came out into the 
beautiful valley of E,ogue River. Here is said to be the finest 
climate in Oregon, and to wearied passengers just over the 
mountains the sight "was like a revelation of beauty. AVhere 
we enter, the valley is no more than two miles wide, but as we 
go down it widens gradually to five, thirteen or twenty, while 
on every hand appear fine farms, thrifty orchards, great piles 
of red and yellow apples of wondrous size, barns full of wheat 
and fine stock, and we feel with delight that we are out of the 
mountains and ''in the settlements." Though far retired from 
the road, the mountains still appear rugged and lofty, sending 
out a succession of rocky spurs — one every two or three miles — 
and between these, far back into the hills, extend most beautiful 
coves in long fan-like shapes. The air was mild, the roads firm 
and smooth, and the coach rolled along with just enough of 
motion to give variety — and appetite. 

Everybody and everything we saw had the unmistakable 
" Oregon look." We were among the " Web-feet " at last, and 
a comely race they are, if I may judge from the plump forms 
and fresh, clear complexions I saw on this part of the route. 
The climate had no suggestions of extra dampness ; the sky was 
clear and the air cool and dry, w^th the general features of 
Indian Summer in Ohio. Double plows were running in many 
of the fields, "breaking fallow for spring wheat," the natives 
said, and the apples, just gathered, were lying in heaps, to be 
stored away the last of the month, showing that no freeze is to 
be apprehended before December. Though not extensive, this 



760 PEICE OF A MEAL. 



-i'lli*!''';*;. 




FALLS OF THE WILLAMETTE. 

is one of the finest valleys in Oregon, and M'ell settled. Land 
appears to be as high as in the rural districts of Indiana. AH 
the farmers whom I questioned at the stations held theirs at 
fifty or sixty dollars per aere. 

At the principal town, the four immigrants got out, leaving 
the coach to two of us, and, soon after, M-e entered ni)on the last 
mountain drive. The range was low, but the night was too 
cold for sleep. Daylight came u{)on us in the dense woods that 
lie between Cow Creek and the South Umpqna, and under the 
heavy interlocking branches it was still hazy at 8 o'clock. The 
stock at the stage of stations seemed quite worn out, from the 
late storm and extra work, and our progress was slow. Old 
settlers tell me that but one-fifth of Oregon is covered with 
timber, but from the route 1 came I should have guessed nine- 
tenths. In the thickest jiart of the timber we ran out into day- 
light at a cleared space of perhaps a mile square, with a dozen 
dwellings and home station, where we took breakfast. Every- 
where on this line "four bits" in coin is the customary price 
of a meal ; "one bit" for a cigar or drink, and if you pass out 
twenty-five cents the dealer bunds bnck a dime. If you pay a 
dime, it is all right. The people are so accustomed of old to 
high prices tliat the differcTiee of two-and-a-half cents between 
a dime and a " bit " is not taken account of. Thence we 



TRAVELING. 761 

entered on a timbered canon, down wliicli we made but fifteen 
miles in four liours. The heavy coach alone was a load, over 
the rocky road, for the four horses, every one of which filled 
exactly Isaiah's description of the natural man, their whole 
heads were sick and their whole hearts faint, and from the 
crown of the head to the sole of the foot they were wounds and 
bruises and putrefying sores. We were now so near the settled 
Willamette A^alley that lumber is an object, and the whole 
trade of this district consists in getting out logs and floating 
them down Caiion Creek to the Canonville sawmills. Driving 
liour after hour through these seemingly endless forests, often 
hidden from the sunlight in their somber shades, it seems 
strange that lumber should be scarce anywhere, for here is 
enough of it to supply the Nation for half a century. But the 
railroad is needed to make it available, and the general opinion 
there is that the road will not be completed for some years. 

The same company own the road that own the principal line 
of ocean steamers from Portland to San Francisco ; and it is 
freely stated that they only want the road to the head of Willa- 
mette Valley to serve as a " feeder" to their ocean line, and that 
to construct it through would be only to make a rival for them- 
selves. As the routes now are, I will "take sea-sickness in 
mine" rather than travel by stage over the Shasta Mountains 
again. 

At Canonville we ran out into the Umpqua Valley, at the 
point where the river comes in from the east. Crossing it by 
an uneasy and dangerous bridge, we travel down the east side 
of the valley the rest of the day, as the river there turns due 
north. Many clear and pretty streams dash down from the 
Cascade Range, cross our road and the valley, and empty into 
the Umpqua. The valley is larger than that of Rogue River, 
but the climate does not appear so genial. The Cascade Range, 
which is really a northward continuation of the Sierra Nevadas, 
bends in more toward the coast; hence, none of these valleys are 
so wide as those of the Sacramento and JoiKpiin In California. 

After a long pause at Oakhind, the Oregon and California 
road had just been completed to Roseburgh, where we arrived 



762 WILLAMETTE VALLEY. 

at dark, and saved eighteen miles of staging, as we expected to 
go to Oakland when we left Reading. 

The hardships of my trip were over when I reached the end 
of the Oregon and California road, and I was in a condition to 
properly appreciate railroads. And I fully realize that in spite 
of all which has been done in the last ten vears. Oreo-on is still 
a long way from "the States," and an exceedingly difficult 
place to get to. I used to wonder why a naturally rich and 
very extensive country, which had been in process of settlement 
for nearly a third of a century, should still have less than a 
hundred thousand people ; but I now understand it. I can not 
remember a more pleasant trip than our slow Sunday ride down 
the Willamette Valley. Roseburgh is a little beyond the 
"divide," and on the slopes leading down to the Klamath 
River; but the intermeditite ridge is not very high, and moun- 
tain spurs always look much more romantic from the inside of 
a comfortable car. 

Forty miles brought us fairly down into the Willamette — the 
great valley of Oregon. It is a hundred and forty miles long, 
with an average width of forty miles — five or six thousand 
square miles of the most fertile land in the world. The day was 
like those of our late October, and the train seemed a sort of 
excursion outfit for the people at the various villages along tlie 
way; twelve hours were consumed in making the run, giving 
ample time to study the natives. The " Webfoot" is sui generis ; 
there is a distinctively Oregonian look about all the natives and 
old residents which is hard to describe. Certainly they are not 
an enterprising })eople. They drifted in here all along from 
3 845 to 1855, and some of them at an even earlier period, when 
many western Americans came to the Pacific coast to engage in 
cattle raising — not considering the country fit for much else. 
Tliey left Missouri and Illinois — most of them — because those 
States were even then " too crowded" for them, and they wanted 
to get away where " they was plenty o' range and plenty o' 
game," and have a good, easy time. With one team to each 
family (time being no object to such people) it cost them nothing 
to move; and the peculiar land laws applied to Oregon gave 



SETTLERS. 763 

them every advantage, and have been a serious hindrance to 
settlement ever since. Each single male settler could acquire 
title to three hundred and twenty acres, and each married man 
to six liundred and forty; there were besides some inducements 
to families, so that the birth of a child was a pecuniary advan- 
tage to the parents. The result was that hundreds of girls of 
eleven, twelve and thirteen years of age were married ; and the 
further result, that all this fine land is owned in vast bodies by 
these old families, many of whom will neither sell, improve, nor 
hire any one else to improve. They acknowledge their own 
laziness, and talk about it so good-huraoredly that one is com- 
pelled to sympathize with them. One of the better class gave 
me this account: "These old Pikers don't want the country 
fenced up and the game scared off. \yhat do they care about 
your style o' livin'? One of 'em will go out and tramp a week 
till he can kill a deer — then bring it home, and while his Avife 
cuts it up, he'll lay down and sleep and sleep till his head aches; 
then he'll get up and eat and eat till his belly aches; then he'll 
sit on a log and whittle and whittle till his back aches, and then 
he'll think o' goin' after another deer." I think the climate 
adds something to their natural laziness. It is delightfully 
balmy, mild and temperate for about seven months in the year, 
and the rest of the time foggy, muggy, and neither warm nor 
cold. Their chief export is wheat; on this ':'"'''' depend for 
supplies. In townships where thousands of bushels of apples 
lie rotting on the ground it is impossible to get a drink of cider, 
and most of them tell me that they import their dried fruit from 
California. And land is high, too. Inquiring along the way 
between Eugene City and Portland, I find it held everywhere 
from twenty to sixty dollars per acre, and the annual rent is 
stated at from two dollars and fifty cents to five dollars. These 
facts do not strike me as encouraging to immigration, though 
this valley has not one-fourth the agricultural population it 
ought to have to equal most of the Western States. 

The soil is wonderful, being in many places from fifteen to 
thirty feet in depth, literally inexiiaustible. And for location it 
is extremely fortunate. The high Cascade Kange shuts off all 



764 



BEAVER LANDS. 




PORTLAND— OREGON— FKOM EAST SIDE OF WILLAMETTE. 

hard winter storms ; tlie lower Coast Range on the west only 
admits the mildest airs of the Pacific ; the summers never get so 
dry or hot as in California; all the rains are gentle, and de- 
structive storms and freshets are unknown. The surprisingly 
slow development of such a region can only be accounted for by 
the facts I have stated. The new settlers eagerly seize on every 
chance for improvement, and are doing considerable; but it is 
complained that these old fellows "hold on to the land like 
burrs, and d''^ "eighty slow." And from longer experience with 
the "first fiimilies," I am driven to the painful conclusion that 
about a hundred first-class funerals would prove a great advan- 
tage to Oregon. 

In the lower portions of the valley the road traverses what 
are called " Beaver Lands," said to be the choicest of all the 
lands in Oregon. The theory of their origin is that the beavers, 
by damming up the shallow creeks and building their houses in 
them, caused the beds and adjacent low lands to overflow and 
fill with accumulations of earthy matter and decayed vegetable 
deposits. This must have been the work of many centuries, 
and has left a soil whigji only grows more fertile by cultivation. 
But these lands are found nowhere but in i\\Q AVillamette Valley, 
and do not altogether exceed twenty thousand acres. 



ALMOST A LONDON FOG. 765 

There were only two or tiiree towns alon*^ the way of much 
importance. Eugene City, near tlie head of the river, loolced 
rather more lively than Oregon generally. Salem had a de- 
lightfully quiet New England Sabbath look, and Oregon City, 
at the falls of the Willamette, had the appearance of a thriving 
manufacturing town. To one lately accustomed to the driving 
ways of the Union Pacific and Iowa roads, there does not ap- 
pear to be any particular stir about the Oregon and California 
road. On the upper (southern) end I saw enough to convince 
me that they do intend to continue it some time. The papers 
announce with an air of confidence that it will be completed to 
the connection in California by 1874. If the " Webfeet" don't 
display more enterprise in this than in other things I've noticed, 
I should say 1974 would be nearer the figures. 

I reached Portland at sunset of a beautiful Sabbath evening 
— not at all suggestive of the fog and rain which are generally 
iittiibuted to this climate. For two days the weather was de- 
lightful, though everybody spoke of it as the coldest they had 
ever experienced. The wind was from the northwest, very 
gentle, the sky clear, and ice lialf an inch thick formed on the 
gutters — a rare thing in Portland. In the evening the ther- 
mometer rose from 28° to 38°, and next morning I wondered 
why I waked up and was so restless in the night. I turned 
over suddenly, and an old shot wound in the knee gave me a 
fearful wrench. Then I felt something like ague along my 
backbone. I struck a match, looked at my watch, and it was 
nearly 8 o'clock. 

Such a fog! One could almost chew it up and spit it out. 
With a sharp knife it might be cut out in chjinks and stored for 
dry weather. They say the winters here are healthful. It must 
be for differently constituted lungs from mine. It don't seem 
to me like breathing ; it is rather a sort of pulmonic swallowing. 
Only the smoke and dust of a great city here is needed to give 
Portland occasional fogs fully equal to those of London. This 
fog continued till noon, then broke away, and a gentle drizzle 
finished the day. Portlanders all agree that they have the 
finest climate in the world in summer, and part of the spring 



-GQ 



CLIMATE. 




STREET IN OLYMPIA— WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 



and fall ; but admit that it is rather unpleasant for three or four 
months of winter. Rain may be expected at any moment when 
the thermometer is above 35°. If the rain hap[)ens to miss a 
day or two the fog may be depended on. At such a time the 
wind, what little there is, is mostly from the southwest. As 
soon as it comes from the northwest the mercury drops to 30°, 
or lower, the sky clears, the clouds sail away to the southwest, 
and cool delightful weather follows. It is evident by a mere 
glance at the country, that Portland can never get so dry and 
hot in summer as'do most of the towns in California. The 
heavily-timbered hills all around indicate a very different con- 
dition; and it is the universal testimony that the summers are 
temperate and pleasant. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

IN CONCLUSION. 

Season too late — "Washington Territory—" Good-bye, Jonah " — Down the Willa- 
mette — In the Coliunl)ia^A fog — Salmon fisheries — Strange instincts of the 
salmon — On the lieaving ocean — " The first to fall " — Down below — " Just a 
little qualmish " — Philosophy on the subject — Smoother watei" — "On an even 
keel " — Arrival at Frisco — Bancroft & Co. — Homeward bound. 

HAD (lelayod too long on tlie eastern end of the line, 
for the heavy Oregon rain was coming fast, the roads 
were becoming intolerable, and it was too late to make a 
tour in Washington Territory without great discom- 
fort. 
To go all the way to Oregon to visit the west end of the 
North Pacific, and return without doing so, is somewhat like the 
case of some of my friends, who go all the way to California to 
see the Yosemite, and then are scared at the stage ride, and do 
not go. Nevertheless, it is just what I did. During the five 
days I spent in Portland, I met from five to fifty persons a day 
just returned from the upper country, and the unanimous 
opinion was: "It is too late for you to go and see anything." 
All who were interested in that country urged me not to go and 
see it at this season, as they were certain I would bring up an 
evil report of the land. 

Portland is located on the west side of the Willamette (j>ro- 
nounced Wil-fom-et), twelve miles above its mouth, at the head 
of navigation. They have two feet of tide-water, but back- 
water from the Columbia often causes great rises, giving the 
surface of the stream a variation of thirty-two feet. At the 
anchorage I noted one English vessel, one loading for the Sand- 
wich Islands, and two ocean steamers, for ports on this coast, 

767 



768 



PORTLAND. 





k 



besides a number of small- 
er Columbia River steam- 
ers. West of the city is a 
rancje of high wooded 
hills, covered mostly with 
fir timber. There beins: a 



mMs^ 




PIJGET SOUXD AND MT. r.AINIER. 



considerable bend in the 
river, the range of hills 

runs straight across the bend, leaving a flat and slope about a 
mile deep and three miles long, about half of which the city 
covers. The streets run with the cardinal points very nearly, 
being numbered from the river, and the principal ones have 
the Nicolson pavement. Most of the others are boarded with 
plank, four inches thick, of native timber, making elegant drives. 
Some few of the outer streets are yet unimproved and very 
muddy in winter. Although there is not freeze enough to pro- 
duce deep mud, yet even when it is not rainy it is foggy or 
cloudy, and the surface is very sloppy. All the older portion 
of the city appears to me quite beautiful, with many evidences 
of wealth and taste. There is an unusually large number of 
fine residences. The city ordinances for many years have com- 
pelled the planting of trees in front of every lot, and all that 



LOCATION AND INHABITANTS. 709 

part of town occupied by private residences is yearly growing; 
in beauty. As one result of tlieir smooth planked streits, much 
attention is given to fine turn-outs and stock, and of pleasant 
afternoons the main avenues are quite lively. 

Tiie location is picturesque. The Cascade Range is visiiile 
part of the time; Mount Hood rears its white summit sixty 
miles to the eastward, but looking as if it were just out of town ; 
while jNIount St. Helens is often visible, though eighty miles to 
the northeast. "Pigtails" are even more numerous on all the 
streets than in " Frisco," and I learn with surprise that one- 
sixth of the population of Portland — two thousand in all — are 
Chinamen. They are porters, washmcn, raili'oad laborers, 
cigar-makers, and some few artisans of other sorts, but th<'y have 
an unusually large number of the higher castes, engaged as 
merchants and importers. 

Sam Poy Sahong has seven stores on this coast, his head- 
quarters being at Portland. Calling at his establishment one 
evening I found him posting his books for the day, and I can 
j)ronounee him a rapid writer and intelligent man. 

The firm of Tung Duck, Cl\ung & Co. charter vessels and 
import -from China. Some other Chinese firms import exten- 
sively, and there are several large dealers among their mer- 
chants. Other foreigners are not numerous; I think the Jews 
jiredominate. Aside from them there are few Germans, and net 
many French or Irish. In fact, Portland has almost an exclu- 
sive Yankee population, as to the whites; there are compara- 
tively few Western people immediately in the eity, though the 
bulk of the rural population is from INIissouri, Illinois and 
neighboring States. For enterprise, the city seems to have that 
which the State at large lacks ; for I am sorry to say my opinion 
of rural Oregon's enterprise has not at all improved by longer 
acquaintance. 

The steamer, by which I engaged passage down tlie coast, 
was to start on Friday evening at dark ; but, going on board, I 
was informed that the start was delayed till next morning, "to 
get the high tide on the bar at the mouth of the Coin: ibia." 
So ray friends made an evening of it to see me ofT j)roperIy, 
49 



770 EEMEDY FOR SEA-SICKXESS. 

and, by way of encouragement, gave me their experience with 
sea-sickness, and a world of good advice. All had come to 
Oregon by sea, and all had been sea-sick; but there was one' 
little difficulty about their advice, no two agreed in any par- 
ticular but one. Said number one: " Lie down and stay there. 
No need of being sea-sick as long as you keep perfectly still. 
The moment you sit up or move about, you are sick. I lay in 
my berth all the way from Frisco." 

'' Bosh," said number two, *' you stay on deck right in the 
cold air just as long as yoju can. The minute you go below, 
where you move witlaout seein' it, and the lamps and things 
are swingin' around, you're a goner! Take your stand right 
on the bow, an' stick to it." 

A grave and reverend senior thus pronounced: "The will 
has more to do with it than you'd think. Make up your mind 
you're not goin' to be sick, and ten to one you wont." 

A chorus of dissent. Then another recommended lemons 
and sherry wine ! But all agreed on one thing : that it was 
best to eat every meal one could, and take plenty of air and 
exercise. 

Having properly prepared my nerves, and emptied fourteen 
bottles of "Bass," the party of six saw me aboard, at midnight, 
witii the parting " Good-bye, Jonah, and when you begin to 
heave, think of us." 

I found on board an "old salt," Nvith whom I had got 
acquainted at the hotel, and his advice was: "Take half a 
dozen limes in your pocket, eat one whenever you feel giddy, 
walk the deck with me, and I'll insure you. Stick to the deck, 
with a blanket and overcoat, if it's cold, and you can't get very 
sick." This I did, and found it the best plan. 

At daylight, the bang of a six-pounder on the bo\v aroused 
me from dreams of shipwreck, and pretty soon the " hoh-he-hoh" 
of the seamen's chorus, and the rattle of lines and jingle of 
bells announced .that we were off. The easy motion of the 
vessel hilled me to another nap of an hour, from which I 
awoke to find that we were d^^ad still — neither tied nor 
anchored, but swinging with the current, and buried in a fog, 



ON THE "WATER. 771 

SO dense that I had to feel my way along the berths to the 
cabin door. We were near the mouth of the Willamette, and 
were to stay there any time from one to twenty-four hours. 
Hour by hour the fog slowly lifted, drizzle and mist taking its 
place, and chilling one to the very bones. The cabin passen- 
gers crowded around the stoves, while the Chinese and other 
steerage passengers walked the deck, or crowded around the 
smoke-stacks for warmth; the melancholy "-Johns," with 
glazed caps and black pig-tails, looking like a lot of half- 
drowned crows. About 2 p, m. blue spots began to appear, 
bright rays broke through the gloom, a light wind was felt 
from the northwest, and soon the fog was sailing away in fleecy 
clouds toward the Cascade Range. The call of " Tickets, 
gents," showed one man without the pasteboard ; the davits 
were loosed, the boat swung to the water, and two hours more 
were consumed in setting him ashore on a point three miles 
away. Moving down the broad stream — little to be seen but 
low, wooded banks — we ran out into the Columbia, and were 
soon surrounded by extensive flocks of ducks and wild geese, 
with occasionally a gull or Walloon. But most of them kept 
out of gunshot from the vessel. I saw no settlements anywhere 
on the Columbia bottoms, unless the fishermen's cabins can be 
so called. Timber of mediiun size lines the river everywhere, 
and very few cleared fields are to be seen. By dark w^e had 
reached the principal salmon fisheries, and there, for some 
reason to me unknown, the steamer stopped for the night, 
probably to wait for another high tide on the bar. 

The amphibious race who follow the calling of fisherman on 
the low^er Columbia, might be set down as a separate variety 
of our species. They know all about salmon, and next to 
nothing of everything else. Here and next morning at Astoria, 
our boat took on a hundred tons of canned salmon — "no put- 
up, at all," the clerk said — and the figures given me as to the 
extent of shipments a]>pear incredible. Three houi's' persistent 
interviewing of the fishermen developed these facts: The 
salmon vary from five to thirty pounds in weight, twelve 
pounds being a fair average. They are now a standard luxury 



772 SALMON. 

ill all tlie markets of the world. They begin to ascend tlie 
river in the spring rise — May or June — and turn into all the 
tributaries and small creeks, to the highest point they can 
reach. During tlie " season " a salmon is never found with 
head down stream — "always bucking agin the current," says 
the natives. In many places they get entangled among the 
rocks, and some are found worn almost smooth by their strug- 
gles. No instance is known of one of these being caught with 
a hook, and from observation the fishermen are universally of 
opinion that the salmon eat nothing during the entire spawn- 
ing season. The consequence is that they get poorer, and the 
meat whiter, every mile up stream. No Oregonian will eat of 
fsalmon caught above the mouth of the Willamette. When 
tiiey enter the Columbia the meat is of a bright red color; in 
the Willamette it is of a pale vermilion, and at Oregon City, 
and up at the Dalles almost white. The nearer the mouth of 
the Columbia, the more valuable the fisheries. When they 
Iiave reached the highest point attainable, they spawn among 
tlie gravel and on the rocks, where the water is but two or 
three inches deep. Then they die by thousands, and masses 
of dead salmon are cast ashore, or found floating in the eddies. 
It used to be thought that all which came up died ; but the 
fishermen say it is now known that many of the old ones sur- 
vive to return to the ocean ; but they float sluggishly with the 
current, keeping very low in the water. Next year the young 
ones go out to the ocean in vast schools, and occasionally one 
of them is caught with a hook, but not often. The meat of the 
salmon is poison to a dog. Their spawning grounds have been 
found as far as a thousand miles from the sea. There is a 
remarkable difference between various localities. At places 
on the Sound, the salmon is not fit to eat ; at others it is infe- 
rior, but still palatable. The Columbia takes precedence of all 
points on the coast. 

We spent three hours at Astoria, a curious old town strung 
along under the wooded hills, and a party of us walked out to 
see the first house built in Oregon — the old residence of Astor. 
The place is now of little importance except for shipping salmon. 



" ETHIOPIAN WALK-AROUXD." 773 

The call to a late breakfast showed the fifty cabin passengers all 
on hand, each one speculating humorously as to how many 
would sit down to the next meal ; for we could already see the 
white foam on the bar, and knew that a " high sea was running 
outsiile." The Columbia bar was long tlie terror of navigators^ 
but it appears to have been such only through ignorance, and 
since proper soundings have been made, no more accidents liave 
occurred in the last twenty years than at the mouths of other 
large rivers. AV^e })assed it in an hour, without difficulty, and 
soon were upon the " heaving ocean," of which we read. It 
was a rough introduction. The heaviest sea encountered on 
the voyage was at the start. One minute the bow appeared to 
be rearing up to square off at the midday sun, and the next to 
get down and root for something at the bottom of the ocean. 
Bets were made as to who would be the "first to fall," and a 
])arty of twenty or more of us went to the hurricane deck to 
stand it out. With songs, shouts and laughter we danced about 
on unsteady footing, attempting an "Ethiopian walk-around" 
on the heaving deck, determined to fight off the sickness to the 
last moment. Then we practised balancing against the waves, 
watching the water in the hollows of the deck, and seizing on 
the moment when it started one way to throw ourselves to the 
opposite. While enjoying' this pastime, a lad of some fifteen 
years suddenly sank to the deck, then rose and emptied his 
stomach at one vast heave. There was a yell of laughter as he 
started below, but in a minute two more followed suit. Then 
they fell away rapidly, and in an hour only five of us remained. 
As I gazed on the bow, admiring the majestic sweep of its rise 
and fall, and the swell of the ocean beyond, it suddenly appeared 
to stop; then it stood dead still, and the whole body of the 
ocean appeared to rise and fall instead, and in a moment my 
head seemed to rise and fall with it, leaving the bow between u-s 
quite fixed. I had been warned not to look at the bow, but I 
forgot it. I tried in vain to restore the natural order, but 
the illusion had become to me a reality: the bow was still, and 
my head and the ocean alone moved. At every rise my neck 
seemed to stretch out longer, my head get farther from my bodv, 



774 



A LITTLE QUALMISH. 




A LITTLE QUALMISH." 



and soon I lost it altogether, or only became conscious of it 
by taking it in my hand, when it seemed about the size of a 
sugar hogshead. Then a terrible, creeping, crawling sensation 
became apparent, extending down 'my person, and I started 
below. My stomach was still quiet, and as soon as I got to 
the cabin my giddiness ceased. The passengers were falling 
on every hand, for nearly all were "land-lubbers." 

The crowd was a study : an Englishman and lady sat to- 
gether, holding each other by the hand, bracing themselves 
firmly as if they could resist the motion ; a " fast young man" 
held his head with a savage grip between his hands, and looked 
fixedly in the coal-box, while the ladies one by one appealed to 
their companions: " Won't you please assist me to the berth — 
I feel — ah — just a little qualmish." 

Lunch was called and half the number went below. I had 
seated myself and got one mouthful of souj), when the vessel 
gave an unusual heave; I felt the soup "coming back," claiq)ed 
my hand to ray mouth, and rushed on deck. But the fight was 



SEA-SICKNESS. 775 

over, and I was defeated. The terrible mal de mer had me in 
spite of my struggles, aud I felt my way to my room. Next 
door to me was a family of four, making their first trip away 
from Oregon. As I passed, the little girl and boy were lying 
in the lower berth, with their heads over a basin, moaning with 
sickness; the young mother lay above, pale as the sheet, and 
unable even to resist the motion of the vessel, whieh tossed her 
from side to side, and the husband sat by trying to cheer them, 
while the dark bile swelled up in his cheeks and his eye 
showed the composure of desi)air. I could not repress a 
sickly smile, for they had been the most hilarious of our party 
on deck. 

From the gentlemen's berths came a mixed sound of curses, 
groans and regurgitations. One enormous fat old fellow was 
crying like a baby, and finally called out in desjiair : "O — o — o 
I can't stand this; W'on't some Ciiristian throw me over- 
board." My sailor friend, who was standing at my door to 
encourage me, promptly made rej)ly : " Well, I ain't much 
of a Christian, but if it's any accommodation, I'll chuck ye 
overboard." 

My sickness lasted for three hours, then a most delightful 
calm succeeded, followed by a long sweet sleep. I learned a 
new fact, to me: there are really two kinds of sea-sickness; one 
begins in the head, the other in the stomach, and a man may 
have either or both. The latter, I am convinced, is simply a 
reversal of the peristaltic motion of the stomach and bowels. 
In the long swells as the boat rises one feels perfectly delightful ; 
the "insides" settle down, down, down, and are at I'est. But 
as the boat sinks all the internal viscera rise — as one passenger 
expressed it, ''you fall away from your grub" — they press even 
against the throat, producing a fearful and indescribable nausea. 
There is nothing I can compare it to. Even now the recol- 
lection makes me shudder. And one may have this kind of 
sea-sickness without being a particle giddy.- But the other kind 
begins in the head ; it is the result of the eye having nothing 
fixed or solid to rest upon. Everything one looks at is moving 
— the boat, the lamps, the waves are so many sources of irrita- 



776 



GOOD ADVICE. 








rOIXT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE— COAST OF CALIFOllNIA. 



tion to tlio optic nerve and hrain. Nothing is fixed. All one's 
notions of security are unsettled. In a whirling swing or stage- 
coach, where some people are affected, one can never be entirely 
lost, for there is the " sure and firm-set earth " to come back 
ti[)on as a solid basis; but on the ocean that last resource is 
lacking, and the eye and brair. are hopelessly deranged. Thence, 
by sympathy merely, the derangement spreads to the stomach ; 
the affection of that is only secondary. This last was the kind 
of sea-sickness I had, with but little of the other. Hence as 
soon as I lay down and shut my eyes, I began to recover. And 
for such cases that advice is jrood. But for those whose sick- 



THE SEA CALM. 



777 




BANCROFT'S GREAT PUBLISHING HOUSE— SAN FRANCISCO. 

ness begins at the stomach there is no such hope ; they must 
suffer it through. 

Next morning the sea was oalm, the boat was "running 
nearly on an even keel," and the rest of the voyage was delight- 
ful. Our third day on the ocean, the table was fidl again and 
everybody jolly. So I stick to my original conclusion: Take a 
day's sea-sickness on the way to Oi'egon, rather than go by stage. 

There is another argument in favor of this route. The 
fare from "Frisco" to Portland is only $25.00, while from 
Sacramento there by land is $45.00, both in gold. 



778 OVER THE PACIFIC RAILROAD AGAIN. 

The second night we saw from afar tlie glowing suniniit of 
Point Arena Lighthouse — a sublime sight from a distance 
upon the ocean. Next night, soon after dark, we passed the 
Golden Gate, and at daylight I was delighted to find myself once 
more on terra Jirma. 

No " Life on tlie ocean wave " for me, if you please. My 
first trip has convinced me that I haven't the head for life on 
the Atlantic ; for what we saw on the Pacific is a mere nothing. 
Solid ground is good enough for me. 

San Francisco showed great improvement since I had first 
seen it three years before; but my walks were mostly among the 
publishing houses, of which the city has an extensive supply. 
A quarter of a century since, a dull and sleepy Mexican mis- 
sion adorned (?) this row of sandhills; now a city of nearly two 
hundred thousand, is supplied by six daily papers, half a dozen 
periodicals, and several large publishing houses. That of A- 
L. Bancroft & Co., established in 1852, now equals any in 
the Eastern States. Almost everything in that line which is 
peculiarly Californian bears tiieir imprint. In law books par- 
ticularly, and other work usually confined to a few houses in 
the East, they have shown great enterprise. Besides their 
oriirinal works, several hundred thousand volumes of Eastern 
books have been sold by them on the Pacific Coast. Their 
fine building on Market Street is an enduring monument to 
the general intelligence and love of literature of the people of 
California. 

To leave the mild air of "Frisco" for the snows of the 
mountains was anything but agreeable; but there were rumors 
of impending snow blockades; important business called me to 
Indiana, and I took a hasty departure from the Far ^^\^st. 

To close happily, every book should have a hero; but this 
lias none, unless the author may by courtesy be permitted to fill 
that ]H)sition. Suffice it then to say, that seven days' riding 
from San Francisco brought me again to my native Hoosier- 
dom, vastly improved in health by my five years of "Western 
travel. 



A MONTH IN TEXAS. 




I. 

THE WAY TO TEXAS. 

HE terribly severe winter of 1872-'3 turned the atten- 
tion of prospective emigrants from the Ohio VaHey 
towards the new State of Texas. I use the adjective 
"new" advisedly; for, although sparsely settled as 
early as 1830, and slowly increasing in population 
since, Texas still has more good land unoccupied than any 
other State or Territory in the Union. With an area a little 
larger than France, the State has a po[)ulation of only a million 
and a quarter; ninety million acres of public land are still 
open to the pre-emptor, of which more than half is of great 
natural fertility, and most of the rest is valuable for minerals, 
grazing or tind^er. Two millions of peoj)lo in the older States, 
pressed by poverty, or fi'eling the want of more room for 
development, are asking, Where shall we go ? Texans, on the 
other hand, are asking, Where shall we get the live material to 
develop our vast natural resources? "The chain and the 
bucket need hitching together," and in this state of affairs I 
felt that the Texans had need of a historian. The comj)letioa 
of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Road, and the Texas Cen- 
tral, have brought all Northern, Central and Eastern Texas 
within easy I'each of emigrants from tlie Northern States ; and 
a new spirit of immigration has been excited. 

Now there are several ways from Evansville, my starting 

779 



780 DIFFERENT ROUTES. 

point, to Texas. The old way was to drop down the Ohio and 
Mississippi; thence across tiie Gulf to Galveston, and up into 
the country at will. An older way was by wagon and horse, 
through Southern Missouri and Arkansas to the crossing at 
Fort Smith ; thence south-southwest. But the quickest and 
cheapest way now is to take the St. Louis & Southeastern 
Road to St. Louis, from which place the Missouri, Kansas & 
Texas Road will land you in Denison, Grayson county, Texas, 
in thirty-six hours, for the sum of forty dollars and seventy 
cents. Tiiere you may take the Texas Central for points on 
the Gulf, (»r for connecting lines of rail and stage with all 
iin])()rtant [)oints in the State. 

From Scdalia, Missouri, the road runs nearly southwest to 
Parsons, Kansas; there it joins the Western Branch from 
Junction City, and the main line runs nearly straight south 
tlirough the Indian Territory to Denison. At Caddo Junction, 
a branch runs to Paris, Texas, and one may now ride, without 
cliange of cars, from St. Louis to Galveston, 1009 miles. 
Seventy miles of grading are already done on the southwestern 
continuation of the' Missouri, Kansas & Texas; and it is pro- 
]K)sed to push it forward through Central and Western Texas 
to Cumargo, on the Rio Grande, and eventually to the City of 
]\Iexico. Within ten years, or perhaps five, when the great 
bridge at St. Louis is comj)leted, one may ride without change 
of cars from Evansville or Cincinnati to the Mexican Capital. 

I decided to diverge a little from the direct route, and spend 
Sunday with some friends in Kansas. Reaching Kansas City, 
I fonnd it distressingly dull, and interviewed a friend as to the 
causes, who declared : " I haven't made a cent for three 
months." 

"What is the cause?" 

"Damfino!" (Supposed to refer to a heathen goddess wor- 
shii)j>ed there.) "Somethin' the matter over in Kansas. Not a 
doihir conies u]) the two roads from the southern part of that 
State. Lots o' corn there — can't sell it for nothin'. No 
market for anythin' except cattle, and the farmers are holdin' 
on to them to get a little cash to pay taxes. Mighty tough 



CHEAP LIVING. 781 

times down there, I tell you — some a cussin' the Government, 
more a cussin' the railroads, and all take turns a- gettin' up 
before day to cuss Pomeroy. Reckon, they all deserve it. 
But if you want to buy laud down there, this is the best time 
since 1860." 

It was too true. When I took the southward train, the two 
passenger cars on the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston 
Road contained just two dozen })ersons, and all of them looked 
blue. My friends in Allen County, who were so entiiusiastic 
over Kansas in 1871, now mildly hinted, that if 1 was looking- 
for land they " knew of a man who would sell part of his very 
cheap." Why is this thus? An enormous crop was raised 
last year, wheat excepted, and the people are all out of money. 
Corn is fifteen cents a bushel, oats eighteen cents, potatoes 
twenty cents, ground crops you can not sell at any price, and 
liay can be had by the thousand at two dollars a ton ! Only 
one branch of produce " holds up " — cattle — and most of the 
farmers are holding on desperately to what few they have, as if 
the daily sight of them alone prevented them from feeling the 
pangs of conscious poverty. The low prices of living are 
simply amazing. Pretty good board can be had at one dollar 
and a half a week, extra fine at twice that sum. Many houses 
in lola are vacant, and meals at the hotels are but twenty-five 
cents each. The authorities report that the cost of maintaining 
the criminals and paupers need not be over ten cents a day, and 
prices generally are flat. For those who have money, this is 
as good a time as any — that is, for one in a thousand of the 
population. Families live in affluence on four hundred dollars 
a year, and an income of one thousand dollars would make one 
a bloated aristocrat. 

In the country, the old settlers are " land-poor " — so rich 
that they can not pay their taxes. I have previously stated 
the fact, that " pioneers do not generally make the money." 
That fact is still more apparent here. The pioneer has come, 
bought land, and spent all his money in improvements; now 
he has big crops, which he cannot sell for cash. It is time 
now for the "second invasion," men with money, to come in. 



782 PROTECTIVE TARIFF. 

Now is the time to buy land in Southeastern Kansas, for every 
other man Mants to sell half his farm. Many are the causes 
assigned ; but most center on the railroads. The figures show 
that something is wrong. This corn, which sells for fifteen 
cents at the depot here, is sold for sixty-five cents in the eastern 
market. Who gets that fifty cents? Does it really cost that 
to transport grain to the seaboard? The farmers maintain that 
it ouo:ht to cost but half of it, and that the mar^rin of twenty- 
five cents should be divided between them and the eastern 
consumer, giving them ntiore for their grain, and enabling them 
to get eastern products cheaper. They are organizing exten- 
sively into Farmers' Clubs and Protective Associations, deter- 
mined to elect Representatives without regard to party politics, 
to see if laws can not be enacted to help the case. I do not 
question the justice of their plan, but I doubt its practicability. 
Farmers' organizations are very seldom concentrated and 
effective. The material of which they are composed is too 
much diffused, and their objects too diverse. Three hundred 
men running a railroad or manufactory, can act with tenfold 
the promptness of three hundred thousand farmers tributary to 
them. A diversified industry is what they want. And though 
they are now " passing through the low grounds of sorrow," I 
perceive that great good is to come out of this evil — if the rail- 
road companies only maintain the evil long enough. The 
Protective Tariff is heavy enough in Ohio, but it is fully twice 
as heavy in Kansas ; for the freight tariff on the railroads is 
the surest protection in the world. The reports from Missouri 
and Illinois contain some warning figures for the monopolists. 
The increase of home manufactures there has been amazingly 
rapid, and Missouri can either produce or manufacture at will, 
while those from Avhom she has heretofore bought are, by 
nature, limited to the latter. Kansas is moving in this direc- 
tion as rapidly as her means will admit. The city of Lawrence 
is constructing an immense dam in the Kaw River, which M'ill 
furnish two thousand horse-power. The company engaged in 
this work, composed of the wealthiest citizens of Lawrence, are 
renting sites for manufactories, with a guarantee of sufficient 



CHANUTE. 783 

•water power. This plan carried out, and there is no doubt of 
its practicability, and Lawrence in ten years will be a city of 
fifty thousand people. Living is very cheap, and building 
material abundant. This road will bring any desired amount 
of cotton direct from Texas, at forty per cent, of the cost of 
taking it to New England, Of course, all this would have 
hai)pened some time anyhow, but the railroads have hurried it 
up half a century. The monopolists may not immediately 
realize it, but tliey are most effectually knocking their own cow 
in the head. 

Warm weather was at least a month later than usual this 
spring in Kansas, and at 2 P. M. of a January day — the 
almanac says it was the 15th of April — I left Chanute, by the 
Missouri, Kansas & Texas, for a warmer climate. Chanute is 
the result of eighteen months' war and a compromise. At that 
point, the Lawrence, Leavenworth & Galveston crosses the 
Missouri, Kansas & Texas, at a very long angle. The follow- 
ers of the first built the town of Tioga, those of the second 
built New Chicago; and between the two lay eighty acres of 
open prairie. This fumiy condition lasted until both towns 
were exhausted by mutual strife, and when there was nothing 
left to quarrel about, they united and formed the town of 
Chanute — named for the Superintendent of the Lawrence, 
Leavenworth & Galveston Railroad. 

After two hours' delay at Parsons, we started due south, 
though the cold seemed to increase every mile. Vinita, in the 
Cherokee Nation, the last place we saw by daylight, has im- 
j)roved greatly within a year, and the friendly co-operation of 
this road with the Atlantic and Pacific will make an important 
place of that town, their point of junction. Nearly half our 
passengers left us at Muskogee — not the town I visited a year 
ago, but a well-built place a mile below — whence stages run to 
Fort Gibson, Tahlequah, Fort Smith, the Creek Capital, and 
other important towns. It seems that the District Court for the 
Indian Territory is still located at Fort Smith, Arkansas, 
though the Department promised last year that one should be 
established at Fort Gibson, principal town of the Cherokee 
Nation. 



784 THE ALAMO HOTEL. 

Daylight found us in the center of the Choctaw Nation, still 
sixty miles north of Red River. The wind had ceased ibr a 
few hours; the trees were nearly in full leaf, and we seemed to 
have met the advancing spring at last. Timber covered about 
half the country, most of it post-oak, growing rather thickly 
along all the streams. There the soil was very black, deej) and 
rich; but on the prairies it was rather sandy, with a thin, 
black Jayer. Grass springs up there early in the season, but 
cultivation wears it out in a few years. Getting down in the 
regular valley of Red River, the land is first-rate for thirty 
miles north of that stream. No improvements, no towns, no 
cultivated farms are seen along the road ; but occasionally a 
cattle-yard appears, indicating the only trade, and more often 
a stylish log house or rude cabin, from which " White Choc- 
taws" peer out at the train, with an air of lazy admiration. 
In the heaviest timber, wild turkeys often fly near us, and 
smaller game are quite abundant, while on the high prairies 
large herds of horses and cattle show the wealth and employ- 
ment of the Choctaws. 

About 8 A. M., we run down a long, steep cut, with red clay 
banks; thence upon a short bridge, and make the jiassage of 
Red River into the sovereign State of Texas. In fifteen min- 
utes a regular " norther " was blowing, and when we left the 
cars at Denison, overcoats were almost as necessary as on the 
previous day in Kansas. But after leaving the warm Pullman 
car for an hour or two, I find that it is only cold enough to be 
gently stimulating; and, judging from my experience, I should 
say this part of Texas has a delightful climate. Red River 
City, on the banks of that stream, laid out by the Missouri, 
Kansas & Texas, was to have been the great ])lace, but all the 
trade has concentrated at Denison, four miles below. 

The Alamo Hotel, where I stop, deserves a Aveek's study. 
It unites the characteristics of the Yankee hotel, the Southern 
" public house," and the foreign hostelrie, wiiile its patrons are 
from every State in the Union, and almost every country in 
Europe. Denison is a northern town ; two-thirds of its citizens, 
nearly all its business men, are from the North, and this hotel 



DENISON. 785 

is run in the best northern style. But the native Texaus 
delight to throng in the bur rooms and billiard halls, and 
spend their money freely, for all the new-fangled Yankee luxu- 
ries. At the table I hear them speak of *' canned milk " and 
"sure enough milk." Not one hotel in four in Texas uses 
"sure enough milk;" the "condensed" article is your only 
resource. All the butter used here comes from Goshen, Ne\v 
York, and the natives tell me there is not a county in this 
section that turns out five hundred pounds a year. " Cheaper 
to sell cattle an' buy it," they say, and I suppose they know. 
This fragment of conversation from two of my neighbors at 
breakfast interested me : 

" Hows the h«alth on Notli Fohk ? " 

" Pooty fayh. But the spiral maginnis tuck a good many 
of 'era down Main Trinity " (Trinity River). On inquiry, I 
learned that this was Texan for spinal meningitis. In like 
manner the motto, '^ Sic semper tyrannis'' (universallv known 
in the South as the exclamation of Wilkes Booth), is freely 
translated in Texas, "Six serpents and a tarantula." 

Dcnison is the quietest railroad town I ever saw. In two 
days there I did not see a drunken man, notice a knife or pistol 
in any one's belt, or witness a brawl. There is said to be a 
great deal of life and dissijmtion of evenings, but none of a vio- 
lent or dangerous kind. The State has a stringent law ao-ainst 
carrying concealed weaj)ons, which is strictly enforced in this 
vicinity. There is rather more security for life than in Eastern 
places of the same size. Denison is but six months old, and 
was not very bad even before the city government was organ- 
ized. A miscellaneous collection of frame and log houses, with 
a few fine stone buildings and some canvas tents, stretching a 
mile each way, this town is rather better than the average 
Union Pacific towns, and has a striking family resemblance to 
Cheyenne in its best days. This or Sherman, eight miles south, 
is to be the metropolis of North Central Texas; but nobody can 
say which as yet. Their rivalry is lively and good humored. 
Grayson county has been settled somewhat for thirty yeai's; but 
there are still vast quantities of uninclosed land in convenient 
50 



786 PLENTY OF GOOD LAND AT LOW FIGURES. 

reach of the raih'oad, for sale at from three to ten dollars per 
acre. Near lied lliver the land is somewhat sandy, but it grad- 
ually changes southward, and all the southern part of the county 
is the richest — of a black loam — yielding large crops of corn, 
Avheat or cotton. There are no dairies, and few potatoes are 
grown here. Those on our table are from Iowa, of a uniform 
large size, and worth about six cents apiece. Apples sell "three 
for two bits." Per contra, very good lemons can be had for " four 
bits a dozen," fish very cheap, and Texas beef for a little less 
per pound than potatoes — i. e., six or seven cents. 

The freight business here is immense. A small regiment of 
men are employed about the two warehouses at the connection 
of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad with the Houston 
ct Texas Central. The latter commenced building northward 
on the broadest gauge; but on nearing this road changed the 
plan and finished on the medium gauge. Hence the same freight 
cars can run through to Corsicana, 127 miles south of Denison; 
there they break gauge and transfer. That line is moving its 
rolling stock southward, and as fast as it wears out will narrow 
the gauge until the same width is continuous to Galveston. 

Evening draws on, and the motley crowd in the street in 
front of the Alamo increases to hundreds. There is the regular 
railroad follower, with glazed cajD or slouched hat, dark red 
complexion, red shirt and brawny arm; the '' sportiug gent" of 
faultless exterior, whose wide-awake air in the evening, and eye 
with dark under-stain, indicate wakeful nights and sleep by day; 
and the Yankee merchant and his Southern clerks, the usual 
combination here. And there are the rural Texans lounging in 
groups of fnir or five, most of them dark, gaunt and grizzly; 
a few Mexicans, who have come with cattle herds aR the way 
from San Antonio, and numbers of white '' bull-whackers," sun- 
burnt, healthy and jolly, carrying with them constantly their 
murderous whips, which look as if one heavy stroke with them 
would flay a cow's back. All are good humored and sociable; 
their language is the horror of grammarians, and such phrases as 
"dun gone," "clean clar out," "git shet of it," are elevated to 
the dignity of good ordinary speech. About ten per cent, of the 



NORTHERN TEXAS. 787 

crowd are negroes; tlie waiters in hotels and restaurants are 
sleek and polite, but the great mass are greasy, ragged and 
offensive. Everybody over ten years of age smokes, and a few 
under that age; and even little darkeys watch for the "old 
stubs" as they are thrown away, and extract a deal of comfort 
from the last half-inch. 

The popular Northern idea of the Texan is of a " half-horse, 
half-alligator" sort of a being, stuck around with pistols and 
knives, going up and down in the earth, seeking somebody whom 
he may '' chaw up," and particularly hungry for Northern 
blood. But these are certainly not of that class; they are rather 
of the opposite extreme, especially the country people — mild, a 
little slow-motioned, open, lounging and communicative. The 
universal testimony is that there is no special antipathy to people 
from any section of the Union. I am surprised to find many 
partnerships of a Northern and a Southern man respectively, and 
late Union and Confederate soldiers, rooming together and "run- 
ning" together, generally on the best of terms. The farmers 
adjacent to town are of the old Southern type, none of them 
very wealthy, but all social, communicative and glad to see im- 
provement in the country, no matter by whom. Many with 
whom I have conversed complain of the taxes, though nc 
heavier than citizens of many Northern States have paid all 
their lives, and say they will sell part of their land for tax 
money as soon as they have a good offer. On the whole, both 
from the testimony of old settlers and new-comers, I think there 
is a first-rate chance in this vicinity for prospective immigrants. 



II. 

NORTHERN TEXAS. 

From Denison I journeyed leisurely southward through 
a very fertile region in Grayson and Collin counties. The 
soil is like that of the Illinois prairies, black and deep, with an 
occasional mixture of sand. I should judge that one-fifth of 
country was enclosed and partially under cultivation. Corn 



78S THE GREAT COTTON REGION. 

was two or three inches high, and wheat rather more advanced •. 
but the air was still cool enough to make a little fire in the 
evening desirable. Farmers all tell the same story : " Monsus 
late, cold spring; wust since I've been in Texas. Cawn got up 
three inches high; then was cut down by a big frost; then we 
had two weeks 'o fine growin' weather, follered by rain an' 
another frost; now the cawn's doin' well agin, an' we've had the 
rain, an' the air's a leetle like light frost, but I hope not." 

We cross many bright, swiftly running streams, and the 
country alternates strips of prairie and timber — about twice as 
much of the former as the latter. All the improvements worth 
noting are on the prairie, but a " free-nigger patch," with 
demoralized log-hut, occasionally appears in the low wooded 
bottoms, where that class mostly live. Inquiring of a philoso- 
phical native why this was thus, he replied : Wall, they don't 
care for the breeze like we. Reckon they want to bleach out. 
You Northern folks are mistaken about that. 'Tain't the heat 
that burns dark ; it's the wind, a-stoppin' the sweat. Folks 
tfhat live in doors, or in the timber, an sweat free, are whiter 
than up North. Find as fair girls in Galveston as ever you 
saw." I had not thought of this, but believe there is some- 
thing in it. Whether the colored American will by operation 
of this principle, eventually become a white man, is another 
question. In the center of Grayson County we ])ass through 
Sherman, a fine old Texan town, and the metropolis of this part 
of the State before Denison was built. It claims a population 
of 4000, which I think from its size not much of an exaggera- 
tion. Our course from there is down Main Trinity, at an 
average distance of five or ten miles from the stream, and 
crossing all its tributaries ; so the country appears exceedingly 
well watered and fertile. The great timbered regions of the 
State lie east of Trinity, and it is estimated that at least one- 
lialf of Eastern Texas is still covered with its primeval forests. 

At McKinney, in Collin county, we begin to enter the region 
where cotton is a staple. Governor Throckmorton, who has 
lived in this region more than twenty years, says that the dis- 
trict of two hundred miles square, with this county for its 



GENERAL HEALTHFULSTESS. 789 

northern boundary, "if stimulated to tlie highest extent of its 
productive qualities, could be made to yield a larger amount 
of cotton in the aggregate than is now produced in all the 
cotton growing regions of the United States." The statement 
is not an extravagant one. Not more than one acre in ten of 
the area spoken of is now inclosed ; and of that inclosed the 
smallest part is devoted to cotton ; yet the product is already 
important. In the year 1870 the entire State had only 2,964,836 
acres of land under cultivation, yet the cotton crop amounted to 
350,628 bales. Thirty thousand square miles suitable to the 
production of cotton still remain in a state of nature. 

Of the general healthfulness of Northern Texas I think there 
can be no doubt. There is little or no stagnant water, and no 
malaria-producing swamps. The general level is high, the 
country gently undulating and crossed by many swiftly rini- 
ning streams. The native Texans, as a rule, are tall and 
slightly angular men, sometimes inclined to be swarthy; but 
it is a rare thing to hear any one cough. On the other 
hand, the low valleys of the Brazos, Red River, Trinity, and 
other large streams can not be considered healthful for Northern 
men. From observation and native evidence, I am convinced 
that malarial diseases prevail near these streams very much in 
the same proportion they do in the immediate valley of the 
Wabash. But in respct to the heat I am agreeably disappointed. 
Except in the heaviest timber the summer temperature is no 
more oppressive than at the North. But for all that, an 
English resident states that he has received a letter from a 
countryman, who asks whether it is really a fact, as he hears, 
that " in Texas they must work at night on account of the heat 
of the day, and the flying snakes which have a special liking to 
bite Englishmen ! " 

Thence through Ellis and Navarro Counties the country is 
of the same general description as far as Corsicana, where I 
stop for two days. Navarro and Corsicana, husband and wife, 
were noted and wealthy Mexicans who ruled over this region 
and owned the best part of it forty years ago. They welcomed 
American immigrants gladly, and thereby soon lost their sover- 



790 THE WILD TURKEY. 

eignty ; then sold their lands and retired from business ; the 
county is named for the husband, and the town for the wife. I 
had found a warm climate at last, or the season had settled since I 
started, for the evening heat was a little 0})pressive ; all the crops 
Avere " in a forward state," the grass a foot high on the black 
sandy land, and lively Nature putting in her best licks. As I 
strolled out after supper into the post oak grove east of town, 
and noted the changes of scenery and vegetation from that I 
had seen a few days before, I heard suddenly from the depth of 
the woods the long, quavering cry of the wild turkey. It was 
repeated again and again, but each time growing longer and 
more unlike any sound made by the turkey, till by almost im- 
perceptible degrees it changed to the cooing of a dove; then it 
broke suddenly into the lively rattling tones of the brown 
thrush, and again slowly died away to the melancholy cry of 
the cat bird, from which, after a few preliminary hvcefs and 
flourishes it turned to a strain which might pass for an imita- 
tion, with lengthy dwelling on the vowel sounds, of the melan- 
choly repeat : 

" I'm dre-e-e-aming now of Halli-e-e, 
Swe-e-et Hallie, swe-e-et Halli-ee." 

Again the sounds became longer and longer, to a mere wail, 
which ended in a quick chuckle and turned again to the soft 
cooino; of the dove. It was the Texas mocking bird. Thev 
abound at this season in all the groves along the Trinity, and I 
am told that flocks of the birds known to the Northern summer 
pass the winter there. 

An excursion into the country showed that that county is 
about on tiie line where corn and wheat begin to yield to the 
extensive cultivation of cotton, but all three are produced side 
by side. Not more than one-fifth of the land in that vicinity 
is inclosed and improved, and vast tracks are for sale in every 
direction at from three to twelve dollars per acre, according to 
quality and nearness to the railroad. The planters say that 
three-fourths of a bale per acre has often been produced, but 
they seldom estimate that way, not counting the land as a very 
important item. They say " so many bales to the hand," and 



STYLE OF LIVING. 791' 

consider eight or ten bales for each worker a fair average. 
Putting this and that together, I judge that one man can tend 
twelve acres in cotton. They expect it to be worth at least 
seventy dollars per bale this year at the depot; but this, I sup- 
pose, is only a conjecture at this early {)eriod. From these 
figures I think they should be better fixed than they are; for I 
regret to notice that the style of living does not indicate an 
approach to luxury. There are no dairies; very little milk or 
butter is produced, and many of the farmers have neither on 
their tables, which looks queer for a "great cattle country." 
Farm houses are all of an open, roomy sort, mostly with porches 
on three sides, indicating that they are a shelter against heat 
rather than cold. The local ways and manners, the general 
style of living and treatment of strangers do not differ par- 
ticularly from those of our country districts in Indiana. There 
is a remarkable similarity in the condition of the people; no- 
body is very rich or very poor, and, as far as I can learn, there 
is but one grade of society among whites. But the negroes in 
many quarters are shockingly poor. They are even more lazy 
than the whites, and have not the education to make up for a 
lack of industry, or make a little work go a great ways. Five 
years persistent and intelligent labor would make them owners 
of half the land in the country; for it is for sale, and the 
holders generally would "as soon sell to a nigger as anybody." 
Those who were so distressed at the prospect of " social equality" 
have had all their scare for nothing; for the negro would 
scarcely go into M'hite society, or live with the whites, if he 
were invited three times a day — no more than a very poor, 
ignorant and ragged white man in Ohio would go into the 
society of the wealthy and intelligent. Tliat sense of personal 
shame, the dregs of self-respect, effectually settles such things 
without the need of law or specific regulation. 

Fleas are the curse of Corsicana. The little sand piles about 
town are full of them ; it is one of the tests of gentlemanly 
breeding to "knock their hold loose" gracefully, and the 
citizens have a regular science of devising ways and means to 
keep their houses clear of them. But the great law of compen- 



792 THE IMMENSE SIZE OF TEXAS. 

sation comes in there as elsewhere — or ratlier the Darwinian 
law of " natural selection and survival of the fittest." Those 
who are peculiarly fitted by nature to withstand fleas, flourish 
and increase ; others emigrate or die : hence a new race pecu- 
liarly fitted to their surroundings; and any accomplished native 
can rout a flea with such inimitable grace that the historian can 
only admire without attempting to describe. But the State 
geuerally is not so troubled. Other undesirables are the taran- 
tula and centipede, both very rare. The former is certainly a 
much slandered reptile in the popular accounts at the Xorth^ 
for every one here says that it is comparatively harmless, and 
no one ever heard of a death from its bite. The centipede's 
sting is more venomous; it never strikes unless hurt or dis- 
turbed, but its venom causes the flesh to rot from the afflicted 
part, leaving the muscles bare. But all unite in saying they 
never knew it to cause death. I am, therefore, inclined to pass 
as fabulous, the statement a "returned volunteer" once gave 
me of this creature: "An insect, sir, that runs like lightnin', 
and spits .a juice that'll knock your eye out at a rod off; hit's 
got a diamond eye, a back like a hairy spider, and a belly like 
a tobacker worm, with a thousand an' forty-four legs ; each leg 
has four stingers, and every stinger carries second death.'' 

III. 

CENTRAL TEXAS. 

I AM amazed at the bigness of this country. I have traveled 
nearly three hundred miles across it, at the narrowest place, 
and am still a few hours' ride from the border. People talk 
quite familiarly of " neighboring towns" one or two hundred 
miles away. I thought I could see most that was worth seeing 
in a brief excursion, but I give it up. Texas can not be seen in 
less than a month. Stretdiing over ten degrees of latitude, 
and from the 16th to the 30th degrees of longitude west from 
Washington, it is evident that the State can not be described as 
a whole — or in general terms. Everything said about Texas, 



CLIMATE OF CENTRAL TEXAS. 793 

whether good or bad, is true — if applied to the ap])ropriate 
section. It reaches to within one-half degree of as far south as 
does Florida; while its northern boundary is nearly continuous 
with the northern line of Tennessee. But its climate and pro- 
ductions arc not determined by latitude alone. The entire 
State consists of one great slope — or, perhaps more })i'()perly, 
a series of narrow plateaus, each breaking gently to the next 
lower — from near the foot of the Kocky Mountains to the Gulf 
of Mexico. On the eastern border this slope is nearly due 
south, and on the extreme south nearly due east ; but in four- 
fifths of the State it is southeast. From the high, bare plains 
of the Northwest, and from the windcaves of the Kocky Moun- 
tains, the " blue northers " sweep down over the Llano Esta- 
cado and treeless plains of Young and Bexar Districts, and 
greatly modify the climate to a much lower latitude. But 
down the streams the increasing timber lessens their force; the 
climate is singularly equable for- the width of three or four 
counties, and then the heat increases rapidly till you again get 
within range of the tempering breezes from the Gulf But 
the local records where I have lately been tell a pretty fair 
story. The thermometer never ranges quite as high as in 
latitudes a long way north. In Houston the climate seems 
nearly perfection. For twenty years the thermometer has never 
been above ninety-five degrees. At one time, in the coldest 
weather, it sank to ten degrees above zero, but rarely goes lower 
than twenty degrees. The average of the "heated term," one 
day with another, is there recorded at eighty-four degrees. 
There has never been a case of sunstroke at Houston. Only 
half a dozen are recorded at Galveston. Necessarily, over such 
an area as I have outlined, we find every product of the Tem- 
perate Zone, and many of the Torrid. In popular language 
here, I find that Texas is considered in four grand divisions. 
Eastern Texas includes the country from the Sabine to the 
Trinity River; Central Texas, that from the Trinity to the 
Colorado; Northern Texas means the two or three tiers of 
counties nearest Red River, and all of Yoiuig Territory; and 
Western Texas the whole region from the Colorado to the Rio 



794 PKODUCTS PASTURE ALL THE YEAR. 

Grande, including the "stock regiun," especially so-called. By 
a glance at the map it svill be seen that my route from Red 
River, via the Houston and Texas Central, was nearly down 
the centre of Central Texas. 

Changing from medium to broad gauge at Corsicana, the 
train bore us nearly straight south, slowly leaving the valley of 
the Trinity and bearing across the high country to the Brazos. 
The country appears of the same general character all the way ; 
high, gently undulating, about one-fifth in timber, alternating 
" black lands " and sandy loam, and possibly one acre in ten 
under fence. All the rest is open for common pasture, though 
most of it belongs to private owners, and is for sale at from two 
to eight dollars per acre. Father Nugent, of Manchester, 
England, made a thorough examination of all Central Texas 
two years ago, in the interests of a large body of English, and 
here is part of his report : 

" The northern and middle counties of Texas yield wheat, 
corn, and all kinds of small grain in abundance on lands 
equally adapted to cotton, giving a bale of 500 pounds to the 
acre. These cotton lands, which are not to be surpassed in 
the world, are capable of yielding all kinds of fruits and 
vegetables. Many of the Western States afford good pasturage, 
and yield grass in abundance during the summer months, but 
Texas has the advantage of affording perennial pasturage with- 
out taxing the farmer with the heavy labor and expense of pre- 
paring food in the summer for his cattle and sheep, and then 
dealing it out to them in winter. The right of i)asturage in the 
Western States has to be paid for, while in Texas it is free to 
all. It need not surprise our Manchester friend to hear that, 
during our recent tour in Texas, we came in contact with many 
men, now possessing immense properties and filling high social 
positions, who, not many years ago, arrived in that State with- 
out a single dollar. Their labor was their only caj)ital, and in 
the Lone Star State it is the best foundation of wealth. Here 
is one of a hundred examples of a poor man becoming rich 
witliout a copper. Twenty-five years ago an Irishman engaged 
with a stock-raiser. There was no money to be given, but he 



HORACE GEEELEY's DESCRIPTION OF TEXAS. 795 

was to be boarded and found in everything, and in the place of 
Avages he was to receive one cow and a calf each month. Now 
he is worth $100,000 in cash, and sends to market each year 
from fifteen to twenty thousand head of cattle. Many a poor 
sailor, tired of the perils of the deep, has taken refuge in Texas, 
and by energy and perseverance has climbed to the topmost 
round of the ladder. Here is one, who was formerly a man 
before the mast, who has now six steamers on the Rio Grande, 
80,000 head of cattle, 25,000 head of horse stock, ] 2,000 sheep, 
and 150,000 acres of land, and last year invested $29,000 in 
the Jackson and New Orleans Railroad. Horace Greeley paid 
Texas a visit the last week in May of this year, and christened 
it the ' Land of Promise.' After describing the richness of the 
soil and the easy conditions upon which it may be obtained, he 
says: 'As yet the mineral wealth of Texas sleeps undisturbed 
and useless. She has iron enough to divide the earth by rail- 
roads into S(|uares ten miles across, but no ton of it was ever 
smelted. She has at least five thousand square miles of coal 
(probably much more), but no ton of it was ever dug for sale. 
She has gypsum enough to plaster the continent annually for a 
century, but it lies quiet and valueless — a waste of earth- 
covered stone. She has more land good for wheat than Min- 
nesota, yet imports nearly all her flour. She has millions of 
acres of excellent timber, yet builds mainly of pine from 
Louisiana and Florida. She sends to Ohio for her hams and to 
New York for her butter, and would import berries and fruit 
if her people had not learned, while they were unattainable, to 
do without them. If ten thousand Northern farmers would 
settle just below Houston and devote themselves to supplying 
that city and Galveston with fresh milk, butter, strawberries, 
raspberries, peaches, grapes, etc., they might charge double the 
])rices and get rich faster than so many cultivators ever did 
before. They would have to make their own ice, but that is 
not difficult; they might have to teach the Texas Central Rail- 
road Company how to run a milk-train fifty miles, but that 
need not exhaust their energies. The pasture-land, fenced, 
might cost them ten dollars an acre just around a railroad 



796 SOUTHERN TEXAS. 

depot and a junction ; their cows miglit be picked at $15 per 
head, and they would soon sell hay enough at 200 per cent, 
profit to defray the cost of feeding and housing their stock.'" 

From two trips through Central Texas, I consider the fore- 
going a very fair exhibit. Our road continued a general south- 
ward course to Hempstead in the valley of the Brazos, whence 
we bore nearly straight southeast to Houston. 



IV. 

SOUTHERN TEXAS. 

When I entered Houston, I thought that certainly the most 
beautiful place in Texas. There had been a twenty-four hours' 
rain, and at 9 A. M. the sun shone out clear; the orange groves, 
magnolias, and shade trees looked their richest green, and 
Houston presented to the newly arrived Northerner a most 
enchanting appearance. That city, the original Capital of 
Texas, is at the head of Buffalo Bayou, a long projection of 
Galveston Bay, but for some days there had been quite a 
current owing to late and heavy rains. Three steamers were 
anchored in the narrow channel, and half a dozen or more 
alligators, about six feet long, were sunning themselves on the 
drift-wood. The view there was not lovely, but back in the 
city, and on the level tract in every direction around, it was all 
the tourist could desire. Attending Baptist Sabbath-school, and 
Presbyterian Ciuirch, I found about three dozen persons at each, 
whence I argued that the Houstonians are not piously inclined, 
or that a bright Sunday had greater charms outdoors than an 
orthodox sermon within. 

Monday morning I was early awakened by a few shots, and 
rose to find some of the patriotic citizens celebrating the thirty- 
seventh anniversary of the battle of San Jacinto. I was 
evidently in an extreme Southern latitude at last. Pictures of 
Lee and Stonewall Jackson adorned the places of resort ; the 
boys whistled <' Bonnie Blue Flag" and "Dixie," and two of 
my neighbors at the breakfast table had an animated conversa- 



LANDS WITHOUT FENCES. 797 

tion about the "tloin's o' them d — d thieves up at Austin" — a 
polite reference to the present Legislature. By midday it might 
have been called hot; the water still standing in the flat places 
about town sent up a cloud of steam, and the weatherwise 
observed that we should " have a regular norther " — recognized 
as Nature's regular plan in this country for settling the weather. 
Some fifty negroes were rolling freight on the levee, and about 
seven hundred more lounging around town, while the whites 
seemed rather more busy and generally employed than in most 
places in Texas. All the dwellings in Houston have a delight- 
fully home-like look, with wide porches around three sides, and 
almost hidden in dark green groves. 

The " mixed train " for Galveston left at half-past 2, and 
consumed four hours in going the fifty miles. In addition to 
the regular peanut fiend, and generous man of five dollar jewels 
in "two bit" candy boxes^^ we encountered numerous little 
darkies selling gorgeous tropical flowers, conspicuous among 
them the immense magnolia buds, which open to the full flower 
in a few hours after being gathered. The road runs nearly 
straight southeast, apparently over a perfectly level plain, 
sloping so gently down to the Gulf that the eye can not per- 
ceive the decline. For a mile or two from Houston we run 
through a heavy grove, then out into an open prairie, and for 
ten miles see not a house or rod of fence. Thousands of acres 
of the finest land in the State are still unfenced, the native sod 
unbroken ; and between Houston and Galveston one does not 
see fifty houses. All the citizens tell me that my former esti- 
mate, of one-third of this division of country fenced and im- 
proved, is entirely too high, and that in no part of the State, 
except possibly in the southeast corner, is more than a fifth or a 
tenth of it inclosed. In the Valley of the Brazos and Trinity, 
where the soil is of inexhaustible fertility, for two hundred 
miles less than one-tenth of it is under cultivation. But the 
in)mediate valleys of these streams are not healthful for 
Northern men. Herds of Texas cattle are seen in every direc- 
tion from our train, and grazing appears to be the only use 
made of this fertile prairie extending for thirty miles from the 



798 GALVESTON. 

coQst. Ncaring the shore we find a few houses, surrounded by 
little farms devoted to fruit, vegetables and poultry for the 
Galveston market, but nothing to indicate the vicinity of a 
great city. Passing these we enter open country again, and 
flat marshy land of little value extends some five miles from 
the Gulf. ' 

On the low, sandy shore, we pass the ruins of an old Con- 
federate earthwork, erected to defend the railroad from Yankee 
gunboats, which made many efforts to get into the bay between the 
city and the mainland. Thence we enter on a trestle work, which 
continues for a mile and nine-tenths, carrying the railroad over 
to Galveston Island. There we find beautiful gardens and 
orchards, fields of corn now three feet hitrh, and vegetation 
generally about as far advanced as in late June in Ohio. From 
the depot the omnibus rolled along the shell road as smoothly 
as if upon glass, while an accomjnodating gentleman, learning 
that I was a stranger, pointed out all objects of interest as we 
passed, giving me a rapid history of each. At the Exchange, 
some distance from the business part of town, and the favored 
home of tourists, I find already a number of visitors who have 
sought the Gulf shore for health and pleasure. 

I am pleased with Galveston. It seems to me the location 
can not be excelled for comfort. An island of hard white sand, 
thirty miles long, and from one to four broad, rises evenly on 
every side from the salt surf; nowhere more than ten or twenty 
feet above high tide, the location has just slope enough for con- 
venient drainage. The streets run with the cardinal points, 
and are lined on both sides with heavy shade trees. Except in 
the center of town and the business front on the north side, and 
known as the Strand, the houses are surrounded by oranges, 
oleanders and other Southern trees and flowers, the neat, white 
dwellings rising from this dark green and leafy mass. All day 
the Gulf breeze sweeps inland through the broad streets, and 
after an hour or two of sultry calm the land breeze blows out- 
Avard all night. In the morning there is another warm calm 
of an hour or two, then the ocean breeze comes again. One 
would think it ought to be the healthiest place in America* 



GENERAL LONGSTREEt's RESPONSIBILITY. 799 

But there are drawbacks. About once in five years tlie yellow 
fever visits the place. The last time the city was almost 
entirely abandoned. Already the papers and physicians are 
arguing ]iro and con the momentous question, " Will it come 
this year ? " Late arrivals report it as very bad at Rio Janeiro, 
and slowly advancing along the "Spanish main." 

We reached Galveston on a gala day, and starting out for an 
evening study of the place, I found every public resort thronged, 
and bands of music discoursing lively airs. All firemen and 
militia were out, in varied red, blue and gold, and a thousand 
or more negroes thronged the streets "happy as clams at high 
tide." San Jacinto's anniversary was the occasion of all this 
pother, and in speeches, songs and dialogues I heard the whole 
history of Texas fought over again. Through all their singing, 
speaking and self-glorification one thing deserves especial men- 
tion: I did not hear, or hear, of, a single sentence which could 
be construed as disloyal or specially hostile to the North or the 
Federal Union. There was unbounded praise of everything 
and everybody Texan, but all the speakers either carefully 
avoided any reference to unpleasant topics, or had so fully come 
into harmony with the new regime that they did not even feel 
discontented. But the next evening we had something nearer 
to the old Southern style. One General Pendleton, an intimate 
personal friend of General Lee, and now raising funds for his 
monument, delivered a lecture on the "Life and Character" of 
that hero. It is considered, by the Republicans there, an exposi- 
tion of the most extreme Southern opinion, and if that be true, 
it ought to be published at the North as an evidence of wonderful 
improvement. The General advanced two startling propositions. 
The first was that Longstreet was solely responsible for the 
disastrous defeat at Gettysburg; that he disobeyed the explicit 
orders of General Lee, and by wilful slowness and want of har- 
mony, tiirew " the masterly combinations of the General com- 
manding into confusion, and gave time to Meade to mass an 
impregnable force in front." And the second charge is like 
unto it: "In the wilderness, where Hood had made so happy a 
diversion in favor of. Lee's overworked twelve thousand, had 



800 HIDE ON THE BEACH. 

Longstreet been up, as lie should have been, with the Texans, 
who belonged to his corps, it is undeniable that Grant's repulse 
would have been changed to a rout, and he forced back to the 
defenses at Washingtou." Thus, according to General Pendle- 
ton, Longstreet is solely responsible for two of the greatest 
disasters (to the South) of the war. " Inij)ortant, if true." But, 
unfortunately, the only witnesses who could have given us cer- 
tainty on this point are dead, and we must feel a suspicion that 
there is a strong effort just now to make Longstreet as much of 
a scapegoat as possible. The lecturer abused General Grant a 
little, but in general was highly eulogistic of the Northern 
troops. It wouldn't be policy, you see, to deny ihe possession 
of bravery to those the General was fighting, for that sort of 
detraction has an awkward back-action about it. Tlie braver 
the enemy, the braver are we who withstood them. 

From a three hours' ride on the beach I returned quite in love 
■with Galveston. Between the highest and lowest tidemark is a 
firm, wide expanse, some two hundred yards wide, extending 
around the head of the island and down the southern side for 
thirty miles. The heaviest carriage wheel barely marks it, the 
foot of a horse scarcely dents it; sloping gently to the water's 
edge, washed occasionally by the highest tide, and always swept 
by a gentle wind, it is certainly the most beautiful drive on our 
coast. From 4 p. m. till dark, there is the place to see the 
beauty, wealth and fashion of Galveston. Instead of a winter 
resort, as I had supposed, this is becoming rather a midsummer 
resort. Old settlers from Virginia and Kentucky tell me they 
visit those States in the spring or autumn, but make it a point 
to spend midsummer here, for coolness. 

I have run down ten degrees of latitude in ten days, from late 
winter to early summer, and begin to feel the effects of such a 
change. But in the open halls and on the wide porches of the 
Exchange here, with the Gulf breeze by day and the outward 
breeze by night, I am fast getting my constitution accustomed 
to a deal of rest, and like the lotus-eaters of Homer's flibled isle, 
having tasted the delights of an ocean beach in the tropics, 
nothing but compulsion will take me away. 



HOUSTON. 801 

V. 

TRIP TO AUSTIN. 

From Galveston to Austin the railroad runs through the 
very heart of Texas, connecting the two most important cities. 
Along this line, if anywhere, we should expect extensive 
improvements, continuous cultivated farms and a regular suc- 
cession of settlements. In fact, less than one-fifth of the country 
is enclosed, and in every county tens of thousands of acres of the 
greatest fertility are still in the native sod. After leaving the 
low sandy land near the Gulf we traverse a strip some thirty 
miles wide, M^th less than one fliraily to the square mile, on an 
average. Brazoria County, lying just west of the road, and 
surrounding the mouth of the Brazos River, extending inland 
seventy miles from the Gulf and crossed by half a dozen fine 
streams, is acknowledged to be the finest sugar region in the 
State, yet not more than one acre in six is under cultivation. 
Hon. C B. Sabin, representative from that county, informs me 
that it is considered in Texas one of the oldest and best settled 
counties. Matagorda, around the mouth of the Colorado, and 
Galveston, extending sixty miles inland from Galveston Island, 
the two other counties in Mr. Sabin's district, are even more 
thinly settled than Brazoria; and it is a very moderate estimate 
to say that in these three counties there is still room for fifty 
thousand planters. 

Harris county, next on our route, where I stopped for a day, 
seems to me more thickly settled than the others, and contains 
Houston, the second city in the State. Here more railroads 
intersect than at any other point in the State — the Galveston 
line running southeast to that city, the Brazoria road southward 
into the county of that name, the San Antonio road westward 
to Colorado County, and northeastward as far as the Trinity 
River, the Houston & Northern northward into Anderson 
county, and the Texas Central to Red River, with a branch from 
Hempstead to this place. With all these lines, and more pro- 
jected, and claiming, by reason of Buffalo Bayou, to be at the 
51 



802 HARBOR OF GALVESTON. 

head of navigation, Honstonians naturally expect that to be 
something of a place. There, too, I learn the important fact 
that Galveston will be without a harbor in a few years, as the 
bay between the island and the mainland is steadily filling up. 
There is some difference of opinion even at Galveston on that 
point. All admit that where there was "thirty feet of water in 
front of the city when it was laid off, there is now but twelve;'' 
but from this basis they proceed to very opposite conclusions. 
The mass of the citizens unite in asking Congress to make an 
appropriation for clearing the harbor, and modestly insist that 
an expenditure of "one or two million dollars will insure the 
best harbor in the world for the next fifty years, if not forever." 
But a respectable minority maintain that a great mistake was 
made in the first place in locating the city on the island; that it 
ought to have been put on Bolivar point, nearly straight north, 
on the mainland, where the water retains its depth or increases. 
At the head of this party is "Old Doc" Jones, familiarly so 
called, the oldest settler of Galveston, and a survivor of "the 
fflorious revolution of 1836." Although he was one of those 
who laid out Galveston, he now maintains that the island city 
should only be kept as a place for residences, and that the com- 
mercial city should be remov^ed as above; and, in a conversa- 
tion with me on the subject, stated that he should go to Wash- 
ington to oppose the harbor appropriation. 

I have wandered from my description of the counties on our 
route. The last was Harris, and there again one would natu- 
rally expect a thickly settled country. But in six hours' drive 
from Houston one may find thousands of acres of first-rate land 
unoccupied, and for sale at from $5 to $10 per acre. "Too 
much land in Texas," is the universal answer to my queries on 
what seems to me a strange state of facts. In other Western 
States one usually finds the settlements very thick on the east- 
ern boundary, and falling off suddenly at the border, so that a 
day's ride will take one out of civilization to primeval wildness. 
But in Texas the "border" is all over the State, except possibly 
in the southeastern corner the settlements and farms are nowhere 
coterminous; and in all that part of the State east of longitude 



PEACH TREES. 803 

97°, there are about as many people in any one section of twenty 
miles square as in another. All things considered, one sec- 
tion is about as good as another; all are equally free from Indians; 
society, law and order are about equally established in all, and 
the pursuits of the original Texaus, a minimum of farming to a 
maximum of hunting and herding, require considerable areas of 
open land between the farms. But a new era has now set in; 
cattle raising as the exclusive occupation is confined to the 
Western District, and all Texas is now calling for immigrants. 
Soon after passing west of Austin, I am told, the uniform dis- 
tribution of settlements ceases; there are vast areas of wild land, 
and the sparse inhabitants are collected at a few accessible 
points. 

Soon after crossing the Brazos, from Austin County into 
Washington, I found an old Arizona acquaintance — the cactus, 
of the species that would, I think, be called the prickly pear in 
the East. We were evidently entering a somewhat dryer 
country. The testimony of settlers is that crops fail in that 
region no oftener than elsewhere, but a different style of cultiva- 
tion is required — deep plowing, rolling the land and planting 
early. There have been two heavy frosts this year, both cutting 
the corn badly; but the third growth is already well underway, 
giving the few fields quite a pleasant shade of living green. 
About the border of Bastrop and Travis counties a young Texan 
directed ray attention to the distant plain, asking: 

"Do you see our peach groves'? " 

"Indeed! " I answered. "Are those peach trees?" 

"Certainly; you'll find thousands of them growing all over 
the country without a fence. Cattle never touch 'em." 

We were now right among the "peach trees," at least they 
looked exactly like them, and I was proceeding to make a note 
of so remarkable a circumstance and ask for further information, 
when a general laugh announced that I had been "sold," Thev 
were mezquit trees. They grow in patches on the highest and 
dryest lands, and at a little distance present the exact appearance 
of an old peach orchard. Cattle certainly "never touch 'cm," 
for at the joining of each twig is found a little gray thorn, as 



804 THE CAPITOL. 

long and sharp as a needle. I had an ugly experience with one 
bush back of the Capitol before I had been in Austin a day. 
From the center of Travis County the road traverses a beautiful 
country down to Austin, which appears from afar like a scattered 
collection of neat white cottages, embowered in groves and grass- 
plats. Once in town the place is found to be like ancient Rome, 
built upon seven hills, a slope, and a level plain. The cityward 
bluff of the Colorado rises almost perpendicular for thirty feet 
or more from the water's edge, thence a beautiful plain extends 
for some two hundred rods northward, and rises by a gentle 
grade to several beautiful knolls — the same that I have called 
" hills " above, though none are high enough to deserve that 
name. On the crest of the central one, which slopes evenly 
toward all the cardinal points, stands the Capitol ; north of it 
are other public buildings, all around and for two miles further 
north are the finest private residences, while the city proper, of 
trade and crowded streets, extends from the Capitol down to the 
river. Except the main street due south from the Capitol, and 
a few of the nearest cross streets, the city appears like an exten- 
sion of retired country seats. At three or four places only is 
the steep bluif graded down to give a passage to the river; but 
north of town is a more gentle slope, and a broad sandbar. On 
the opposite side is a range of heavily timbered hills, and all 
around, far as the eye can see, and twenty miles further, extends 
a gently rolling country, alternating strips of fertile prairie with 
pretty little groves. The commissioners who selected this site 
for the Capitol deserved well of their country ; but they looked 
a long way ahead; for it was then (1839) "far up country," on 
the Indian border, and even now this may be considered the 
Avestern limit of connected settlement. But they had faith in 
the future, and with prophetic eye forsaw a possible Reavis, 
hence selected the most available spot near the geographical 
center. In 1841 several men were killed by Indians within the 
corporate limits of the city, and Castro, a Lepan chief, was regu- 
larly hired by the infant government to scout north and west and 
keep oif the Comanches. The growth of the city has been slow 
and resrular. 



GOV. E. J. DAVlS. 805 

Of manufactures, there are none worthy of note, except the 
two ice factories. One uses ether, the other aqua-ammonia, and 
together they turn out a thousand pounds daily of perfectly 
pure ice, which sells at three cents per pound. The city rests 
upon successive strata of soft limestone, which "crops out" on 
all the slopes; the Capitol, all the other public and many private 
buildings are constructed of it, and the " macadamized streets " 
simply consist of the same with overlying dirt worn off, or 
carted off to the gardens. 

Of course my first duty was to call upon the Chief Executive, 
Governor E. J. Davis, and hear his side of the administrative 
question, having heard the other side at Galveston. I saw in 
the Governor a tall man of medium build, with rather light 
hair, (absent on top of his head, about as far back as " veneration,") 
with mustache and beard full, not long, and lighter than his 
hair; but whether his eyes be blue, or "light gray changeable," I 
cannot tell after several attempts. There is about his chin and eye 
something that reminds me vaguely and not pleasantly of Brigham 
Young — indicating a man a little too fond of power, or some- 
what determined in having his own way in everything. This 
may be an error, but I wouldn't like to be in his power if I had 
offended him. 

Across the hall I found the Adjutant General, in Avhom I 
recognized my old friend Captain Frank Britton, formerly of the 
Twenty-fifth Indiana Volunteers, and later of Evansville, 
Indiana. He left that city about the time I did, early in 1868, 
and after five years I am proud to find him in honor and posi- 
tion among the " Lone Star Staters." Evansville is a good city 
to emigrate from. Most of the young men who leave there 
manage to live out West without being sent home to their 
friends. 

As we talked two negro men and one woman arrived from 
Hill County, with a terrible tale of outrage. Their cabin 
had been attacked on the evening of the 18th, and one of them 
captured. He was hanged by the neck till nearly dead to make 
him tell where his brother was, who had been charged with some 
petty crime. They let him down, and supposing him too far 



80G MOST OF THE REPORI'ED OUTRAGES IN TEXAS UNTRUE. 

gone to travel, guarded liiin but carelessly. He escaped that 
night, and lay in the brush till joined by his mother and the 
other negro, when they journeyed here to see the Governor. So 
ran their story. But it did not seem that anything could be 
done about it, as the legislature had just repealed the State 
Police law, on which the Governor relied. This reminded me 
that I must go on Avith my inquiry into State affairs, for which 
purpose especially I had come to Austin. 

VI. 

GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY. 

It is not very important to the prospective immigrant 
whether a State is ruled by Democrats or Republicans; but it 
is important whether the laws are equable, just, and promptly 
enforced ; whether life and property are reasonably secure. 
The Government, which preserves these and touches the liberty 
of the citizen at the fewest points, is the best government, no 
matter what form it may assume. My opinion of Texas is 
made up from a month's experience, a careful examination of 
the records, and interviews with the best posted men of all 
shades of opinion ; and I may sum it up in three postulates: 

1. There is no special hostility to Northern men, late Union 
Soldiers, or Republicans. 

2. Not one in ten of the reported crimes resulted from 
political strife or hatred ; they were largely from old and long- 
standing neighborhood feuds, which hold their ground longer 
and grow more bitter in a fixed population like that of the 
South, than in the moving population of the Central North. 

3. There is still a slight feeling of hostility to the Freedmen 
in a few sections; but much less than a few years ago, and 
growing less constantly. 

The State had considerable lawlessness for a few years after 
the war, which was vigorously suppressed ; but out of that 
suppression grew other evils, which in turn are being redressed. 
A brief history of the administration of the present Governor, 



HISTORY OF THE ADMINISTRATION. 807 

E. J. Davis, will give the reader a fair idea of the existing 
condition. 

Talceii as a whole, it has undoubtedly been a success* Even 
his enemies acknowledge that the " administration measures," 
so-called, worked great good for a time, but his friends are 
compelled to admit that the same means were soon after used 
to carry out the most outrageous tyranny. It is the old story 
over again : a condition of strife and social disorder leads to 
the placing of immense power in one man's hands; but when 
the disorder is passed, the ruler has grown too fond of his 
power to part with it without a struggle, and employs it to 
crush opposition. The people seek refuge from anarchy in a 
sort of legal despotism, and are driven by despotism into worse 
confounding anarchy. The first election (after reconstruction) 
in 1869, the Democrats allowed to go by default; two Repub- 
licans were candidates, and Davis was elected, and took the 
office in April, 1870. The condition of the State was deplora- 
ble. Before the war, it had not been as bad as reported, though 
quite bad enough. For instance, in 1860, with a population 
of 650,000, Texas had a total of 121 homicides; while New 
York, with 3,000,000 people, had but 37. There was a steady 
and rapid increase of crime until 1869, the first year of the 
new regime, for which there are full returns, when the State 
had no less than 1200 homicides! It is true, there was some 
increase of crime everywhere just after the war; but in Texas 
it was five times as great as even in Xew York City. In this 
state of facts, the leading Republicans brought forward what 
are sometimes called the "Five Administration Measures:" 
The militia law, the State police law, the concealed weapon 
law, and the school and immigration laws. The first author- 
ized the Governor to suspend the habeas corpus at his discre- 
tion, to order militia from any part of the State to another 
part, and to arm any portion of the population in any disturbed 
neighborhood. The police law organized a small body of 
mounted men, to be continually under pay of tiie State, and 
ready to go to any section. They were, in fact, about the same 
as a standing army for the State; but never numbered three 



808 FIRMNESS AND BRAVERY. 

hundred men. The third law of the list forbade the carrying 
of deadly weapons, whether concealed or not, except in the 
counties west of the Colorado, and on the northwestern border. 
These were certainly "allopathic remedies," but the heroic 
treatment exactly fitted the case, and succeeded better than the 
most sanguine had anticipated. 

The Governor exercised great judgment in the appointment 
of officers, making no distinction between Union and Confeder- 
ate, where there was reasonable proof of devotion to law and 
order, A majority of the privates, I think, M'ere men who had 
been in the Confederate service. In particular, one Captain 
McNally (of the same rank in the Southern army) deserves 
special mention for bravery and energy. When sent into one 
of the upper counties to guard the Court during trial of a man 
for shooting a negro, a dozen men, who had served under his 
command in the war, came to him and said, " Captain, for 
God's sake, leave this. place. We are bound to take that man 
from the police ; but you we know to be a brave Texan, and 
we don't want to hurt you." The Captain replied, and it was 
a noble thing to say under the circumstances : "Boys, do you 
remember the day in '61, we were drawn up in line, held up 
our hands to God, and took an oath to support the Con- 
federacy? You've seen me in many a fight, and you know 
how I kept it. Now, I've taken another solemn oath to sup- 
port this Government, and I'm going to do it, too. You know 
me, don't interfere with me." He and his four men of the 
State police were attacked while in charge of the prisoner; the 
Captain received three severe wounds, and all his men were 
disabled. One of the police being shot in the cheek and neck, 
plugged up the hole Avith the fore finger of his left hand, while 
he emptied two pistols with his right, then drew his knife and 
came to close quarters. They succeeded in getting the prisoner 
to the penitentiary, where he served his term. 

The moral effect of these things was tremendous. Eight 
hundred murderers and desperadoes fled the State in a body. 
The laws were for awhile strictly enforced ; there was a hanging 
in every other county ; except on the JNlexican frontier, and in 



A DEFAULTER. 809 

the extreme west, life and property were rather more secure 
than in most border States. These repressive measures were 
supported by many of the Democrats — those holding consider- 
able property, even members of the present Legislature, who 
have been active for their repeal, have been to the Governor 
with appeals for troops to be sent to their counties. Mean- 
while, in 1871, the Democrats carried the State, and by that 
time the evil features of these laws became apparent. They 
began to be perverted to mere instruments to maintain the 
party supremacy. The next year, 1872, matters grew much 
worse. The police were used in Galveston and other places in 
that district to break up meetings of Democrats and Liberal 
Republicans, without the shadow of justification. In one case 
in that city, a mass meeting was ordered to disperse by the 
Chief of Police as soon as the first speaker rose, and before even 
a cheer was uttered. Some of the facts of this nature narrated 
to me would be incredible, were it not that they are proved by 
unimpeachable witnesses. Those to whom such immense 
power had been intrusted, could not refrain from using it in 
their own interests. 

Meanwhile, the State Treasurer, George W. Honey, Radical 
Republican, elected in 1869, had fallen under the displeasure 
of Governor Davis, who charged him with being a defaulter. 
In May, 1872, Mr. Honey, who is a Methodist Episcopal 
clergyman, went to New York to attend the Quadrennial 
Conference, purposing to be absent several weeks. Soon after 
his departure, the Governor declared that his absence was a 
forfeiture of the office, and on the 27th of May sent Adjutant- 
General Davidson, with a posse of armed police, and took 
forcible possession of the office. The chief clerk was quick 
enough to turn the key in the combination lock before the 
soldiers entered, when he and all the rest were forcibly ejected. 
The Governor then appointed a commission of editors and 
leading merchants to take charge of the office, and count the 
funds ; but they could not open the safe, as the clerk, who 
alone knew the combination, kept out of sight. 

Mr. Honey hastened home as soon as he heard of these pro- 



810 CONFLICTING OPERATIONS. 

ceedings, and the Commission applied to the Supreme Court for 
a mandatory writ, which was granted, commanding him to 
open the sate or be sent to the common jail, " until his case can 
be heard upon its merits." He consented, on condition that 
the editors should be removed from the Commission, and cer- 
tain bankers, whom he named," be substituted ; which compro- 
mise, after some legal sparring, was accepted. Tiie safe was 
opened, the money counted, and, instead of a defalcation, the 
report gave $69,000 more than the Comptroller's books called 
for ! Of course, this was an error of the Commission, which 
was fully pointed out and explained by Mr. Honey. 

Pending this count, the conspirators had gotten up fifteen 
indictments against Mr. Honey, for embezzling various suras 
from $15 to $200, all of which fell with the report. 

The Governor appointed another to take the place of Honey, 
who brought a writ of quo warranto. This would have been 
tried before Judge Richardson, of the Austin District, who, 
however, was thought to be rather too upright for the end de- 
sired. Accordingly, he was sent to another district, under a 
strange provision of the Texas Constitution, and in his stead 
was brought one Judge Oliver — who, by the way, has since 
resigned to avoid impeachment on very serious charges. He 
ruled out Mr. Honey, who appealed to the Supreme Court, 
where the matter rests. There can be no doubt what the final 
decision will be, as the law is too plain to be disregarded ; but 
it is thouglit that in order to smooth over matters and mend 
the breach between the Governor on one side and the Treasurer 
and Comptroller on the other, they will put off the decision 
till the last of their respective terms. Bear in mind, that all 
these proceedings are in defiance of the plainest provisions of 
the Constitution ; that the Treasurer and other State officials 
can only be removed or suspended by impeachment, like the 
Governor, and the monstrous " irregularity " is apparent. It 
would be a comedy if it were not so near to a tragedy. The 
election of 1872 was carried by the Democrats, by an over- 
whelming majority. In the House of Representatives they 
have three-fourths, and in the Senate only lack three or four 



THE SITUATION OF AFFAIRS. 811 

of having two-thirds. They had, at ray visit, been in session 
between three and four months, laboriously working to repeal 
the laws of the last (Republican) Legislature. The regular 
proceedings was to pass an act, send it to the Governor, get it 
back with a veto message, and then put in a few days bringing 
over the requisite number of Republican Senators to pass it 
over the veto. Hence it was rather slow work. A week had 
passed since they repealed the State police and militia laws, 
and many were apprehensive of a renewal of lawlessness. 

The Governor gave me this statement of the situation : 

"I think if it had been left to a vote of the people, they 
would have retained those laws by a large majority. Without 
them the condition would have been intolerable. Very few of 
the homicides resulted from political feeling. Many of them w'ere 
from old feuds, which broke out in a general period of lawless- 
ness. The condition in Central Texas is now much better than 
in border States generally. There will be some increase of 
crime for a little while, but the great immigration of a better 
class will make the country peaceful." 

Two of the State police — Brown and Ferguson — had been 
shot all to pieces in Tarrant County, a few days before. They 
had acted as detectives, and broke up the Ku-Klux lodges 
there. The law against carrying arms is stringently enforced 
yet, which accounts somewhat for the peaceful appearance I 
took note of at the railroad towns. 

Hon. C. B. Sabin, Representative from Galveston, who has 
been in Texas for twenty-six years, gives me his opinion thus: 

" There have been private grievances from these severe laws, 
but the general outcome was good. Reconstruction was well 
managed in Texas, though property interests did not assert 
themselves at first. From 1865 to 1870, every man you met 
had a pistol or a knife, often both. Now, private arms are rarely 
seen. It was not political, but a general feeling of insecurity 
throughout the State. Nobody had any confidence that the law 
could right him. I am .a Radical Republif^an, but I can not 
perceive that there is any feeling against Northern men." 

I was sitting in a vacant seat by Mr. Sabin, in the Ropresen- 



812 TEXAS OFFICIALS " POOR STICKS." 

tatives' Hall, when the conversation was interriijjted by a huge 
black man behind us rising to speak. It was Hon. "Shack" 
(S. R.) Roberts, of Harrison County. His speech was in oppo- 
sition to a resolution forbidding any member to leave the hall 
without consent of the Speaker, and was replete with humor 
and sarcasm, causing great laughter and applause. He is a 
Methodist preacher, very black, and uses the broadest " planta- 
tion-darkey " English. The six colored members of the House 
and two in the Senate add a pleasing variety. The members 
generally are rather a superior body of men, and would com- 
pare quite favorably with those of Indiana or Ohio. (After 
that comparison, further description would be " risky.") 

I was introduced to the Honorable "Shack," and after 
giving his testimony to the improved condition of affairs gen- 
erally, he added : " The Methodists have done wonders for our 
people in edication, and we're a doing more. Our church at 
home — the A. M. E. — has just 'stablished the Wiley University 
at Marshal], Texas — named after Bishop Wiley. We bought 
two hundred acres in a mile an' a half of the court-house, afore 
the town started up so with the railroad, an' now we're sellin' 
it off fast in buildin' lots at from fifty to two hundred dollars a 
lot, savin' just twenty acres in the middle for the university. 
We'll soon have it running, and it will be free to both sexes, 
'thout regard to color or previous condition." 

The Texan black, it will be seen, is tolerant. Governor 
Davis' career in Texas has naturally given him great influence 
with the Adminstration at Washington, which I am afraid has 
been badly used; for if universal testimony proves anything, 
the Federal appointees in Texas are a set of "poor sticks." 

The result of official tyranny was, that the German element 
and Liberal Republicans revolted in a body, and the Democrats 
now have the State beyond a peradventure. The interests of 
all property holders are for law and order, and in all that part 
of Texas east of the Colorado, life and property are as secure 
as in the Western States generally. 



MINERALS. 813 

VII. 
MINERALS OF TEXAS. 

The entire State, consisting of one continuous slope from 
northwest to southeast, all the rivers running in the latter 
direction, it follows that as we go northwest we get into a higher 
and more broken country. Practically, little difference is 
observable until we are two-thirds of the way across the State, 
when we enter upon the lower spurs of the mountains and the 
high lands adjacent to the " Staked Plain." In that region 
minerals of all kinds have been found, some in great abundance. 
Quite an excitement was in progress during my visit over the 
discovery of gold in one of the upper Counties. I append the 
report of a practical observer : 

" God, in his generosity, seems to have given a siiare of all 
of his best gifts to Texas. It is the vestibule of rich Mexico, 
and the Texas and Pacific Railway may be called the key ; all 
that is now needed is a firm, bold American hand to open the 
door to the countless treasures so long kept from the world at 
large, and as yet scarcely touched by civilization, and only 
partially known to science. There are no such riches near the 
termini or in the neighborhood of any of the other transcon- 
tinental routes. But before we reach Mexico, let us look at tiie 
minerals of Texas itself, most of which are in the direct line of 
the Texas and Pacific Railway. The iron of Burnet, Llano, 
Lampasas, Mason and McCulloch is of four species — magnetic, 
spaltic, specular, and hematic; much of it adapted to steel. I 
have already spoken of the ore at Kelley's works, near Jefferson. 
They claim to have discovered a superior anthracite in several 
counties, and have sent specimens to the General Land Office at 
Washington. The copper of Texas depends on no hypothesis, 
but is a fact. I saw specimens of almost pure ore. Wichita, 
where my German friend goes with his colony of four hundred 
Saxons, abounds in this metal. The lead and silver of El Paso, 
Presidio, Bandera, and Llano counties are proved to exist in 
large quantities. Gold has been found in limited quantities in 



814 EXTENSIVE QUARRIES. 

the same region. There are a dozen salt works in the State. 
The average yield of the works at Coffee's Saline, in Llano 
County, is five hundred bushels, to be easily increased by in- 
telligent labor to two thousand bushels. The salt lakes on the 
coast, however, supply the greatest amount. 

" There is no gypsum field in the world surpassing in extent 
that of Texas. It is found almost everywhere on the waters 
of Red River, extending into Staked Plains, and through 
the cretaceous formations of the State. That of saccharoidal 
character predominates, but thin, transparent plates of selenite 
in crystals are common in various parts of the State. 

" Large deposits of potters' and fire clays, adapted to the 
manufacture of pottery, in Eastern, Northern, and Southern 
Texas, marls and other fertilizers, mineral oils and pigments; 
feldspar in the granite veins, associated with garnets and tour- 
maline of various colors ; mica, in transparency and size of 
plates equal to that of New Hampshire, in Llano, Burnet, and 
Mason counties; extensive quarries of marble and roofing 
slate and grindstone in San Saba, Burnet, and Llano counties ; 
soapstones and abestos in Llano county, with a large class of 
metallic substances usually present in highly metalliferous 
regions — such as alum, cobalt, nickel, manganese, arsenic — 
abound, the description of which would occupy more space than 
can be spared in the present issue. They are generally found 
in combination with each other or associated with other metals, 
which, though at present of little economic value, will no doubt 
grow in consequence Avith the increase of population in the 
State and progress of the useful arts, until eventually, under 
the mutual effects of cheapened labor and enlarged means of 
transportation, they become the means of immense wealth." 

yiii. 

WESTERN TEXAS. 

Ninety miles west southwest of Austin, by the stage road, 
is the old Mexican town of San Antonio; the vicinity has been 



WESTERN TEXAS — THE GREAT GRAZING REGION. 815 

settled nearly a hundred years, and is the " historic ground " 
of Texas. There are the old cathedrals and convents, the old 
Spanish walls and fortifications, which give the beholder a feel- 
ing as if in the Old World ; and near by is the classic Alamo, 
which takes rank as the Thermopylae of the Texas Revolution. 
For nearly a century the Mexicans had made this a grazing 
ground, and three-fourths of it is now used by the American 
and native herders. 

In area it is immense. Its principal water courses are the 
Colorado, Guadalupe, San Antonio, Nueces, and Rio Grande, 
with such smaller but perfectly lovely little rivers, as the San 
Marcus, Comal, Blanco, Medina, San Saba, Rio Llano, and 
Rio Frio ; besides a great many other still lesser ones too 
numerous to name here. 

This part of Texas is peculiarly the home of the honest, 
hardy, money-making ranchero. Here his cattle and his flocks 
can graze upon a " thousand hills," with " none to molest or 
make afraid." While there are many other portions of Texas 
in which stock-raising can be made very profitable, there are 
none at all in which all the advantages are so admirably com- 
bined as in Western Texas. 

The central portion of Western Texas, is regarded as the 
best sheep country in the State. It is a broken, high rolling 
country, supplied with an abundance of rocks and clear rippling 
streams and excellent grass. The sheep are very fat, grow 
magnificent fleeces, and owing to the mild climate the herders 
are very successful in raising the lambs, the percentage of loss 
being almost nothing. 

Except in the southern part, most of Western Texas is too 
dry for agriculture to be a certain resource without irrigation ; 
but by reports of engineers, a considerable portion of the land 
can be watered by acecquias from the numerous rivers. But 
by far the largest portion will remain a grazing ground 
for all time. 

East of the Neuces, Western Texas abounds in fine water 
power along the head waters of the San Antonio, the Guadalupe 
and the Colorado. There is, perhaps, no part of the world 



816 HISTORICAL. 

where permanent water power can be obtained at so small 
expense for all kind of machinery required in mechanical and 
manufacturing pursuits. The want of capital and the unsettled 
condition of the country for many years past, have prevented 
the proper use of this great natural advantage, but the time is 
not many years distant when cotton and woolen factories will 
be established in that part of the State, where the raw material 
can be had at the lowest price and without the cost of trans- 
portation. 

IX. 

HISTORICAL. 

Southern Texas has had Spanish settlements since within 
a hundred years after the Cortez Conquest ; and a hundred 
years ago there were many Mexican herdsmen in the coun- 
ties on the Rio Grande. Early in the present century, some 
Anglo-Americans entered the southeastern part of the State ; 
quite an emigration from New Orleans and other Gulf Cities 
followed, and by 1835 it is estimated that the now-Mexican 
population had reached 50,000. They are now glorified in 
annual " San Jacinto Days" as a noble army of patriots, braves, 
and incorruptibles ; but I am afraid the majority would not 
know themselves in that character if tiiey could come back and 
hear the orations. It seems to have been a settled thing with 
them that they were to revolt against Mexican rule as soon as 
they grew strong enough ; and the ruling Mexicans, no doubt, 
furnished them abundant excuse. Texas and Coahuila had 
been united under one government, and passed, by the Revolu- 
tion of 1824, from being part of a Spanish viceroyalty to a 
"Sovereign State of the Republic of Mexico." 

This union, alike between the States and the Republic, 
proved to be an unhappy one. There was little in common 
between the inhabitants of Coahuila and the Anglo-Americans 
of Texas. So great was the national dissimilarity that even 
judicious compromises, early and graciously made, nor recip- 
rocal forbearance generously practiced, would long have preserved 



BATTLE OF SAN JACINTO. 817 

the hollow truce between these divided States. No line of policy 
could have been pursued that would have been acceptable to 
both, nor long have maintained amicable relations between the 
colonists and those who had inherited the prejudices and in- 
tolerance of a European parent. As early as 1826 an attempt 
was made in the Department of Nacogdoches to establish a 
Texan Republic, under the name of Fredonia. Though un- 
successful, it attracted the jealous eye of the Supreme Govern- 
ment, who believed that a modified system of terror was 
essential to the welfare of the country, and under the ostensible 
pretext of securing the revenues, gradually introduced troops 
and garrisoned posts, but whose real object was to overawe 
the Anglo-American colonists, whose increasing j)ower and 
prosperity inspired envy and alarm. 

The violent decree of Bustamente, in 1830, created profound 
dissatisfaction, and fired the colonists with the sentiment of 
resistance. It resulted in the first military collision, which, 
under fresh causes, were periodically renewed, until 1835, when 
a deep sense of the necessity of a permanent separation from 
the National Government seems to have penetrated alike all 
classes and conditions of society. 

A declaration of independence was followed by a sharp and 
vigorous campaign ; this terminated on the 21st of April, 183G, 
in the "glorious battle of San Jacinto." 

The Texans, closely pursued, had fallen back across the Colo- 
rado and Brazos, and made a last stand on a field which lights 
the historic page of the infant republic with the blaze of victory. 
The morning sun of the 21st of April, 1836, shone on the 
comparatively powerful fi)rces of Santa Anna as they descended 
the right bank of Buffalo Bayou to conquest and victory; but 
his evening beam beheld the Mexican army beaten and flying, 
and the President himself a prisoner in the hands of the Anglo- 
Texans. The battle of San Jacinto was fierce and sh.ort, and 
may be regarded as one of the decisive battles of the world. 
It determined forever the independence of the Republic. 

But Santa Anna, when he had secured his liberty, refused to 
observe the treaty made when he was a prisoner; and the war 
52 



818 THE ALAMO. 

contiiuied in a feeble, irregular way for several years. In this 
revolution oceuretl the notable affair of the Alamo, the most 
heroic sacrifice by a few brave men that is recorded in our his- 
tory. When the Mexican army of invasion crossed the Riu 
Grande, Colonels Travis, Bowie, and Crockett, with a few 
determined men, took possession of the Alamo fort, and after 
being surrounded by the Mexican army refused all offers of 
capitulation, determined by selling their own lives dearly to 
delay Santa Anna until the Texan Govenment could raise an 
army and put the country in a condition of defense. 

"Soon after midnight on the 6th of March, 1836, the Mexi- 
can army, commanded by Santa Anna in person, surrounded 
the fort for the purpose of taking it by storm, cost Nvhat it 
might. Long before daylight the Mexicans advanced towards 
the Alamo, amidst the discharge of musketry and cannon. 
Twice repulsed in their attempt to scale the wall, they were im- 
pelled to the assault by the exertions of their officers, until, 
borne on by the pressure from behind, they mounted the walls, 
and, in the expressive language of an eye witness, * tumbled 
over like sheep.' Then commenced the last struggle of the 
garrison. Travis received a shot, and fell, as he stood on the 
walls cheering on his men. When he dropped, a Mexican 
officer rushed forward to dispatch him. Summoning uj) all his 
powers for a final effort, Travis met his assailant with a thrust 
of his sword, and both expired together. The brave defenders 
of the fort, overborne by multitudes and unable, in the throng, 
to load their firearms, continued the combat with the butt end 
of their rifles until only seven were left, and these were refused 
•quarter. Major Evans was shot while in the act of firing a 
train, to blow up the magazine, by order of Travis. Bowie, 
who had been confined several days by sickness, was butchered 
in his bed, and his remains savagely mutilated. Among the 
slain there was one who, surrounded by a heap of the fallen 
enemy, displayed even in death the freshness of the hunter's 
aspect, and whose eccentricities, real or rej>uted, have familiar- 
ized England with his name — David Crockett, of Tennessee — a 
character such as could only have been produced and perfected 
within the limits of his own country. 



MOSES KOSE. 819 

"The rudest form of sepulture was denied to tlie bravo 
defenders of the Alamo. Their bodies were strip})ed, thrown 
into a heap and burned, after being subjected to brutal indig- 
nities. The obstinate resistance of the garrison, and tlie heavy 
j)rice which they exacted for the surrender of their lives, had 
exasperated the Mexicans to a pitch of rancorous fury, at which 
all considerations of decency and humanity were forgotten." — 
Kenncdifs History of Texas. 

The strength of the garrison was about one hundred and 
fifty, and in the History of the Revolution, the Mexican loss is 
set down at fifteen hundred. 

It was long supposed that none of the garrison escaped ; but 
long after the war one Moses Rose confessed that he had refused 
at the last minute to share his comrades' fate. He climbed tlie 
wall, got down outside into a ditch, reached the chappural and, 
being disguised as a Mexican and speaking the language 
fluently, escaped. He gave the following account of his last 
hours in the Alamo: 

About two hours before sunset, on the third day of March, 
1836, the bombardment suddenly ceased, and the enemy witliT 
drew an unusual distance. Taking advantage of that oppor- 
tunity. Col. Travis paraded all of his eifective men in a single 
file; and, taking his position in front of the center, he stood 
for some moments, apparently speechless from emotion. Then, 
nerving himself for the occasion, he addressed them, closing as 
follows : 

"Then we must die! Our speedy dissolution is a fixed and 
inevitable fact. Our business is, not to make a fruitless effort 
to save our lives, but to choose the manner of our death. But 
three modes are presented to us. Let us choose that by which 
we may best serve our country. Shall we surrender, and be 
deliberately shot, without taking the life of a single enemy? 
Shall we try to cut our way out through the Mexican ranks, 
and be butchered before we can kill twenty of our adversaries? 
I am opposed to either method ; for, in either case, we could 
but lose our lives, without benefiting our friends at home — our 
fathers and mothers, our brothers and sisters, our wives and 



820 NO SURRENDER. 

little ones. The Mexican army is strong enough to march 
through the country, and exterminate its inhabitants, and our 
countrymen are not able to oppose them in open field. My 
choice, then, is to remain in this fort, to resist every assault, 
and to sell our lives as dearly as possible. 

"Then let us band together as brothers, and vow to die 
too-ether. Let us resolve to withstand our adversaries to the 
last; and, at each advance, to kill as many of them as possible. 
And when, at last, they shall storm our fortress, let us kill 
them as they come! kill them as they scale our wall! kill 
them as they leap within ! kill them as they raise their 
weapons, and as they use them ! kill them as they kill our 
companions! and continue to kill them as long as one of us 
shall remain alive ! 

" By this policy, I trust that wc shall so weaken our enemies 
that our countrymen at home can meet them on fair terms, cut 
them up, expel them from the country, and thus establish 
their own independence, and secure prosperity and happiness 
to our families and our country. And, be assured, our memory 
will be gratefully cherished by posterity, till all history shall 
be erased, and all noble deeds shall be forgotten. 

" But I leave every man to his own choice. Should any 
man prefer to surrender, and be tied and shot, or to attempt an 
escajje through the Mexican ranks, and be killed before he can 
run a hundred yards, he is at liberty to do so. 

" My own choice is to stay in this fort, and die for my 
country, fighting as long as breath shall remain in my body. 
This will I do, even if you leave me alone. Do as you think 
best — but no man can die with me without affording me com- 
fort in the moment of death." 

Col. Travis then drew his sword, and with its point traced 
a line upon the ground, extending from the right to the left 
of the file. Then, resuming his position in front of the center, 
he said, " I now want every man who is determined to stay 
here and die with me, to come across this line. Who will be 
first? March!" 

The first respondent was Tapley Holland, who leaped the 



DAVID CROCKETT. 821 

line at a bound, exclaiming, " I am ready to die for my coun- 
try ! " His example was instantly followed by every man in 
the file, with the exception of Rose. Manifest enthusiasm was 
universal and tremendous. Every sick man that could walk 
arose from his -bunk, and tottered across the line. Col. 
Bowie, who coulc^ not leave his bed, said, " Boys, I am not 
able to come to you, but I wish some of you would be so kind 
as to remove my cot over there." Four men instantly ran to 
the cot, and, each lifting a corner, carried it across tjie line. 
Then every sick man that could not walk made the same 
request, and had his bunk removed in like manner. 

Rose, too, was deej)ly aifected, but differently from his 
companions. He stood till every man but himself had crossed 
the line. A consciousness of the real situation overpowered 
him. He sank upon the ground, covered his face, and yielded 
to his own reflections. For a time he was unconscious of what 
was transpiring around him. A bright idea came to his relief; 
he spoke the Mexican dialect very fluently, and could he once 
get safely out of the fort, lie might easily pass for a Mexican 
and eifect an escape. Thus encouraged, he suddenly aroused 
as if from sleep. He looked over the area of the fort; every 
sick man's berth was at its wonted place ; every eifective 
soldier was at his post, as if awaiting orders ; he felt as if 
dreaming. 

He directed a searching glance at the cot of Col. Bowie. 
There lay his gallant friend. Col. David Crockett was 
leaning over the cot, conversing with its occupant in an under- 
tone. After a few seconds, Bowie looked at Rose and said, 
"You seem not to be willing to die with us. Rose." "No," 
said Rose, " I am not prepared to die, and shall not do so if I 
can avoid it." Then Crockett also looked at him, and said, 
" You may as well conclude to die with us, old man, for escape 
is impossible*." 

Rose made no reply, but looked up at the top of the wall. 
" I have often done worse than to climb that wall," thought he. 
Suiting the action to the thought, he sprang up, seized his 
wallet of unwashed clothes, and ascended the wall. Standing 



822 GENERAL VIEWS. 

on its top, he looked down within to take a last view of his 
dying friends. They were all now in motion, but what they 
were doing he heeded not. Overpowered by his feelings, he 
looked away and saw them no more. 

Looking down without, he was amazed at the scene of 
death that met his gaze. From the wall to a considerable dis- 
tance beyond the ground was literally covered with slaughtered 
Mexicans and pools of blood. 

He Y'Gwed this horrid scene but a moment. He threw 
down his wallet and leaped after it; he alighted on his feet, 
but the momentum of the spring threw him sprawling upon 
his stomach in a puddle of Idood. After several seconds he 
recovered his breath; he arose and took up his wallet; it had 
fallen open, and several garments had rolled out upon the 
blood. He hurriedly thrust them back, without trying to 
cleanse them of the coagulated blood which adhered to them. 
Then, throwing the wallet across his shoulders, he hurried 
away. 

X. 

GENERAL VIEWS. 

Texas is a rich State, inhabited by poor people; a sovereign 
State, that must ask permission of New York to build a rail- 
road ; with seven million cattle, and without milk or butter, 
except as the latter is imported; with so much good land, that 
it makes all the owners poor to hold it; with a climate so 
mild, that an ordinary stimulating breeze is called a '* blue 
norther;" with such a bewildering mass of native wealth, that 
people suffer in deciding what to do, and so many sources of 
enjoyment that the people have not the energy to enjoy any- 
thing except laziness. Instead of subjecting nature, man 
seems to be subjected by nature in the larger part of Texas. 
With all this natural wealth, why are the people generally 
poor? This is a conundrum that is hard to answer. There 
has been too much sameness of production for one thing : all 
stock raising in the upper counties, and no manufactures. The 



FINAL. • 823 

olimate invites to ease and repose, and the peo[)]e are too eon- 
tented. A man with ten thousand eattle upon the range, is 
content to live on corn bread and boiled beef, sit on a hickory 
"shakeup" chair, sleep on shucks, live in a board or log 
" shantie," chew " homemade " tobacco, and spit through the 
cracks. 

"An undeveloped empire," hackneyed comparison for the 
whole West, is literal truth applied to Texas. With nearly 
three hundred thousand square miles, two-thirds of which is 
fertile, it certainly has room for all the surplus population of 
the Southern and border Western States for half a century. 

And they are coniing fast. Railroad men and others, who 
are in a position to know, estimate that the immigration to the 
State at present varies from two to four thousand a month. The 
population increased but slowly till 1850, when it was 212,592; 
thence rapidly till 1860, wlien it was 604,215, and again more 
slowly till 1870, when it was returned at 818,579. It is now 
supposed to be about a million and a quarter. 

An area more than five times as large as the State of Ohio, 
with a higher average of fertility, and a climate suitable for 
corn, cotton, tobacco and a dozen fruits, is literally begging for 
inhabitants. Four-fifths of the State is healthful for northern 
men, and lands are comparatively cheap, even in the older por- 
tions. The State has three through lines of rail, and expects 
soon to have the Southern Pacific. All things considered, the 
pesult of my observations has been to improve my opinion of 
Texas as a place of settlement. 



THE END. 



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says he would not take $25. for his $b5. Bible, and do without one of the kind. 
Others say they would not take $20." 

WE APPEND THE FOLLOWIXG REPORTS FROM AGENTS. 

D. J. Cox, of Jackson, ]\riss., sold 45 Bibles in three days. 
R. P. Goodlett, of Dardanelle, Ark., sold 68 Bibles in eight days. 
Mrs. H. Vansize, of Ada, Michigan, sold 140 Bibles in four weeks. 
W. L. Davidson, of Gibson Co., Tenn., sold 66 in one week. 

.^N. Harris, of Larissa, Texas, writes: — "I sold fifty-one copies of j'our 
Bible last week. It is the book to make mone}' on." 

Rev. "W. H. Uickert, of Pomaria, Newberry Co., S. C, writes: — "Your 
Bible is ])ronounced the best and neatest bound book ever sold in the South. 
The people are astonished to see such a Bible for the money." 



It i? printed from large, clear new type, on fine wliite paper made expressly 
for this Bible, and contains ^ J50 pages, and over 450 fine Scripture Illustrations, 
and is bound in the most handsome and substantial manner. 

In Arabesque Leather, Marbled Edges, - at $ 8.50 per Copy. 
* « " Gilt " - at 10.00 " " 

In Frencli Morocco, Full Gilt, Paneled Sides, at 15.00 " " 

Bibles fire alumya hi demand, and you can often, sell a really 
vatnahle, handsome and cheap one to persons who nnll buy no 
othei' boolx. 

A /^T'lVrT^Q TTfT" A IVT' I ' L'T^ — ^^"^^^ ^°'' circulars containing terms to 
iLuJulN liO VV AiN 1 JjJJArronts.andafullcrdcscriptionofourBible. 

Address, NATIONAL PUBLISHING CO., 

Philadelphia, Pa. ; Chicago, 111. ; or, St, Louis, Mo. 



THE UNDEVELOPED WEST; 

FIVE YEARS IN THE TERRITORIES. 

Heintf a Coui2>lcte History of that Vast Region Hetween the 

3Iissis8ippi and the Pacific; its Resources, Climate, 

Inhabitants, Natural Curiosities, Etc. 

ON 

PRAIRIES, MOUNTAINS, AND THE PACIFIC COAST. 

WITH 240 FINK ILLUSTliATIONS, FROM ORIGINAL SKKTCIIES AND PHOTOGRAPHIC VIKWS 
OF THK SCENEUY, LANDS, MINICS, PEOi'LE, AND CURIOSITIES OF THE GREAT WEST, 

BY jr. H. BS.A.DI.E:, 

Western Correspondent nf tlie Cincinnati Commercial, and auilmr of ^' Lift in Utah,'" etc. 



Mr. Beadle spent five years in the Great West, for the especial purpose of exploring 
the country. .Setting out on foot, he traversed the States of Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, 
and Kansas, as well as Dakotah and the Indian Territory ; visiting in person all that 
was worth seeing ; examining the lands, living and conversing with the peoi)le. and 
gaining for himself a fund of information, based upon his own observations and discover- 
ies, more extensive than one man in a million can obtain. 

lie visited the rich mines of Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and Idaho; spent months with 
the Indians, both friendly and hostile, studying their character and habits ; explored 
the various routes of the Great Pacific Railways; passed into California and Oregon, and 
tliere enjoyed peculiar advantages for seeing and investigating the resources and curiosi- 
ties of those remarkable States. He spent considerable time in New ^lexico, Arizona, 
and Texas, and his account of his observations and discoveries in those strange and 
t'e p'.y interesting portions of our country will commend his book to the careful conside- 
ration of the scholar as well as to all who seek practical information or amusement. 
His only companions in his travels in Arizona were Indian guides, and for weeks during 
h!s explorations in that Territory he never saw the face of a white man. 

Tlie book is full of information and facts of the greatest importance, such as could be 
obtained only by going after them, as this indefatigable exjtlorer did. 

All sorts of people figure in this work : the hardy frontier farmir; the wary hunter 
aTid trapper ; the reckless miner ; the cruel and degraded savage ; the hard-working 
" Heathen Chinee ; " the " much-married " Mormon ; the strange remnants of the once- 
powerful Aztec race — all these figure with the naturalness of life in this remarkable book. 

Tliese new States and Territories contain incomparably the grandest scenery in the 
world, and some of the richest resources of the American Continent. ♦Probably no other 
man has ever journeyed so extensively among them as Mr. Beadle — certainly no one so 
competent to describe what he has seen. 

«S"To prospettive emigrants and settlers in the "Far West," this history of that vast region 
will prove an invaluable assistance, supplying, as it does, a Avant long felt of a full. authentie and 
reliabie ^uidi' to filimate, soil, products, distanres, localities, means of travel, etc. This work may 
be relied on, for it contains no second-hand information. 

The great desire everywhere manifested to obtain this work, and the low price at which 
it is sold, combined with the very liberal commissions, make it the best opjiortunity for 
Ai^ents to make money ever heard of in the history of books. They are meeting with 
uni)recedented success, selling from FIFTIiEM to"TU'ENTV, and some even as high 
as THIKTY copies jier day. 

SeM for Circulars, and see onr Tens, aiiJ a Foil Description of tlie Worlf. 
Aaaress, NATIONAL PUBLISHING CO., 

Philadelphia, Pa. ; Chicago, 111. ; or, St. Louis, Mo. 
IJi ONE LARGE ROYAL OCTAVO VOLUME OF m PAGES, TRICE $3.75, IN CLOTH. 



THB ILLUSTRATEIB 

HISTORY OF THE BIBLE: 

F It M 

THE CREATION OF THE WORLD 

TO THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC ERA. 
BY WILLIAM SMITH, LL.D., 

Dt485lCAL KXAMINBR IX THE U.MVi-KslTV Of LONDON, AUTHOR Of "S.MlTU's UIULK DICTIONARY," ETC., ETC. 

ILLUSTRATED WITH 260 FINE ENGRAVINGS AND MAPS. 

It is impossible for the general render of the Bible to understand that Holy Book intelli- 
gently without constant reference to some reliable commentary; but in commentaries and 
Si-ripture manuals, the information relating to the historical portion of the Scriptures is, of 
necessity, meagre, and very little is obtained by such reference. The great want has hith- 
erto been a book which shall make plain the history, manners, customs, laws, observances, 
and geography of the Holy Land, and the nations that have inhabited it, and this in a 
uirinner which will render it easily understood and convenient for reference. 

We need say nothing in commenilation of the author. The fame of his great learning,, 
and his perfect familiarity with sacred and classical history is world-wide. His popularity 
IS attested by the enormous sale of his books — his " Dictionary of the Bible'' having reached! 
a sale of over 200,000 copies in America alone. Perhaps there is no man living so tho-- 
roughly qualified for the task of writing a history of the Bible as the author of this work. 

The History of the Old Testament is clearly and comprehensively told, and is full of va-- 
luable e.\plan:itions of the customs and laws of the Hebrews and the neighboring nations. 
Tiiere is in the Bible an interval between the Old and New Testament Dispensations, which 
i.-i liere filled up by a full account of the history of the chosen people from the time of Ezra 
to the birth of Christ. The thrilling story of the Maccabjean AVars of Independence is told 
griphically and accurately, forming one of the most attractive features of the bo(.k. 

The New Testament History embraces a clear, harmonized account of our Lord's Ministry, 
as velated by the Four Evangelists, illustrated by all needful collateral information, and free 
frum speculative discussions. 

The History of the Apostolic Era presents a completeness not previously attained in any 
giiuilar work. Much new light has been thrown upon the life and ministry of St. I'aul, ami 
tilt! writings of the various Apostles are brought forward to illustrate portions of their lives 
hitherto considered obscure. 

To this magnificent work of Dr. S.mith, has been added a lucid and complete account of 
the Jews, from the taking of Jerusalem by Titus to the present time. This portion of the 
w«irk has been condensed from Dean Milman's great "History of the .Tews," so that the reader 
is here offered the combined efforts of two such high authorities as Smith and Milman. The 
stiiry of the terrible Siege of Jerusalem by Titus, the destruction of the Temple, the disper- 
sion of the Jews, their eftorts to regain their Holy City, their wanderings over the face of the 
earth, and their persecutions and sufferings in strange lands, is told with rigid fidelity to truth. 

I'he publishers confidently assert that this is the most complete and valuable History of 
the Bible ever issued. It is convenient in form, entertaining as a rouuince in style, and 
is sure to find its way into every Christian family. It is suited to the comprehension of 
eliildren, while it appeals to the profound wisdom of the most learned. 

All who are interested in increasing the disseminafitm of sound Biblical knowledge will 
h.iil the appearance of this work with pleasure, and e.\ert themselves to promote its circula- 
tion. Agents will find the way prepared for them by the necessity for such a book, and the 
high character and many attractions of this volume, will make the canvass a very simple and 
e:isy undertaking. The book is ])erfcctly free from sectarian bias, its aim being to pro- 
mote the cause of the one indivisible Church. 

In one large Royal Octavo volume of over 1100 p.iges, emliollislied anr) illnsfiafed witli 260 Fine En- 
fiavings, by the best artists of EiiKbiiid Miid Anieric:i. and ftiniisbed to Siib.icribfis, 

Elegantly Bound a.T Fine Morocco Cloth at S4.75 per copy, 

" " In Bed Roan, Full Gilt Back at 5.50 " " 

" " In French Morocco, Full Gilt Panelled Sides at 7.50 " " 

AGENTS WANTED. Address, NATIONAL PUBLISHING CO, 

Philadelphia, Pa. ; Chicago, 111. ; or, St, Louis, Mo. 



IWThis very interesthu/ and valuable Work will be sent to 
any addresSf itostaffe paid, on receipt of l*rice. 

SEXUAL SCIENCE; 



MANHOOD, WOMANHOOD, 
THEIR MUTUAL TnTER-HELATIONS ; 

LOVE, ITS LAWS, POWER, ETC. 

By Prof. O. S. Fowler. 

" Sexual Science" is simply that giH-at code of natural laws by which the Almighty re- 
quires the sexes to be governed in their mutual relations. A knowledge of these laws is of 
tlic highest importance, and it is the general ignorance of them which swells the list of disease 
and misery in the world, and wrecks so many lives which wouM othcrwi.'-c be happy. 

THE WORK TREATS OF LOVE-MAKING AND SELECTION, showing how love 
affairs should be conducted, and revealing the /oi(« vhieh govern male and female attraction 
and repulsion; what qualities make a good, and a poor, husband or wife, and what given 
persons should select and reject; what forms, sizes, etc., may, and must not, intermarry. 

OF MARRIAGE, its sacredness and necessity, its laws and rights; of perfect and miserable 
unions ; and of all that it is necessary to know concerning this most important relation in life. 

OF BEARING AND NURSING. — This portion being a complete encyclopedia for pro- 
spective mothers, showing how to render confinement ea.=y. and manage infants; every j'oung 
wif« requires its instructions as affecting her embryo. 

OF SEXUAL RESTORATION.— This is a very important part of the work; beeauso 
almost all men and women, if not diseased, are run down. The laws of sexual recuperation 
are here, for the first time, unfolded, and the whidu subjcot thoroughly and scientificilly 
treated; giving the cause and cure of female ailments, seminal losses, sexual imj)otence, etc. 

And Tells how to promote sexual vigor, the prime duty of every man and 

woman. 
How to make a right choice of husband or wife ; what persons are suited to 

each other. 
How to judge a man or woman's sexual condition by visible signs. 
How young husbands should treat their brides; how to increase their love 

and avoid shocking them. 
How to avoid an improper marriage, and how to avoid female ailments. 
How to increase the joys of wedded life, and how to increase female patsion. 
How to regulate intercourse between man and wile, and how to n'lale it 

healthful to both ; inin'iiiiice of tliis law is tlif CMiisc c't I fiiily all tlic woes i f m.in i;i);e. 

How to have fine and healthy children, and how to transmit mental and 

physical qualities to offspring. 
How to avoid the evils attending pregnancy, and how to make child-bearing 

healthful and desirable. 
How to prevent self-abuse among the young, and how to recognize the signs 

of self-abuse and cure it. 
How intercourse out of wedlock is injurious ; a warning to young men. 
How to restore and perpetuate female beauty, and how to promote the growth 

of the female bust. 
How to be virtuous, happy, healthful and useful, by a rigid compliance with 
the laws of sexual science. 
Thero is scarcely a question concerni»g the most serious duties of life which is not fully 
and satisfactorily answered in this book. Such a work has long been needed, and will be 
found invaluable to every man and woman who has arrived at years of di.-^cretion. It should 
be read especially by the married, and by those who have the care of children, and it will 
carry hap))ines3 with it wherever it goes, by diffusing knowledge on thisc subjects concern- 
ing which it has, until now, I>eon almort imjiossiblo to obtain relial)le information. The 
book is pure and elevated in tone; eloquent in its denunciations of vice ; and forcible in its 
warnings against the secret sins which arc practiced with impunity even in the family circle. 
In one large royal octavo volume of 930 pages, embellished and illustrated with numerous 
Flngrnvings, and furnished to Subscribers, 

Bound in Extra Fine Cloth at S3. 75 per Copy. 

Bound in Fine L'^ather, (Library Style,) at $4.50 " 

AGENTS WANTED. Address, NAIIuNAL publishing CO., 
Philadelpliia, Pa. ; Chicago, III. ; or, St. Louis, Mo. 

L£My'l2 




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